
Class __ 

Book . ' — . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSET. 



Apprenticeship ^Apprenticeship 

Education in Colonial 

New England & 1 New York 



ROBERT FRANCIS SEYBOLT, Ph.D. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN," 

SOMETIME RESEARCH SCHOLAR IN EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, No. 85 



PUBLISHED BY 

'QLtBtfyetti aToIIcge, Columbia fllnibewtp 
NEW YORK CITY 

1917 




^ 






COPYRIGHT, 191 7, BY 
ROBERT FRANCIS SEYBOLT 




©CI.A467760 



TO 

PROFESSOR PAUL MONROE 



CONTENTS 

I. The Apprenticeship System in England i 

II. The Practice of Apprenticeship in the New Plymouth 

and Massachusetts Bay Colonies 22 

III. The Educational Aspects op the Practice of Apprentice- 

ship in the New Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay 
Colonies 36 

IV. Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in the 

Connecticut, New Haven, and Rhode Island Colonies . 52 

V. The Practice of Apprenticeship in the Province of 

New York as Revealed by Poor-laws 66 

VI. Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in the 
Province of New York, as Revealed by Legislation, 
Court Orders, etc 75 

VII. Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education in the 
Province of New York, as Revealed by Indentures 
of Apprenticeship 88 

VIII. Apprenticeship, and the Education of Apprentices in 

the Province of New York, as Revealed by Wills . . 99 

IX. Conclusion 104 

Appendix 109 

Bibliography 115 



Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship 
Education in Colonial New Eng- 
land and New York 

CHAPTER I 
THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM IN ENGLAND 

The essential characteristics of the practice of apprentice- 
ship in the American colonies were determined by English 
gild and municipal legislation of the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries. To understand the colonial practice it 
is necessary, therefore, to know its historical antecedents, 
and for this purpose a somewhat detailed account of English 
apprenticeship will be given. Later chapters will show its 
reproduction and continuation in colonial New England and 
New York. 

It is from gild ordinances, statutes, and indentures that 
we get our knowledge of apprenticeship. Available records 
reveal the fact that apprenticeship was practiced in England 
in the thirteenth century; one of the earliest references ap- 
pears in the ordinance of the Lorimers of London in 1261, 
forbidding one master to entice away another's apprentice, 
and fixing the term of service at ten years: "Item ce nul 
fortreie autre emprentiz, ne autri sergeaunt, dedenz son 
term, ne sul emprentiz receyve a mendre terme ce a X 
aunz, et ove XXX soulz au meyns; et jurge ydonqe lem- 
prentiz de tenir les purveaunces en cest escrit conteniz." 1 
From an early statute, dated 1275, we learn that the names 
of apprentices were kept on a paper in the Chamber of. the 

1 Liber Custumarum, I, 78. 



2 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Guildhall. 2 The enrollment of an apprentice within the 
first year of his term was strongly insisted on by the munic- 
ipal authorities, every freeman on admission binding him- 
self by oath to see that any apprentice of his was so enrolled. 3 
It was also required that the Guildhall preserve copies of 
the indenture, or articles of agreement between master and 
apprentice. The records refer frequently to the " paper of 
apprentices" 4 upon which "ingresses" and "egresses" were 
recorded, and to u a certain writing indented made between 
them (master and apprentice), which he (the apprentice) 
brought before the chamberlain." 5 One of the earliest 
references to apprentices in the city records occurs in the 
year 1279 or 1280, when the ordinances for regulating the 
trade of fishmongers were amended. Among these ordi- 
nances we find some relating to apprentices to the following 
effect: that henceforth no one shall take more than two or 
three apprentices at most, according to his ability to support 
them; that no one shall take an apprentice for a less term 
than seven years; that the master and the apprentice come 
to the Guildhall and cause the agreement and the term to 

2 Cal. Letter-Book D, n. 37. "Eodem anno quaedam libertas in Londoniis 
fuit provisa, ut apprenticiorum nomina abbreviaretur in papirio camerae Gildaulae 
et eorum nomina qui libertatem dictae civitatis amere voluerent, in eodem papirio in- 
sererentur; et cujus nomen non fuit in dicto papirio libertate civitatis privaretur." 

We find the "old paper of apprentices of 4 Ed. I" mentioned several times in 
the 14th century (Cal. Let. Bk. D, 65, 151). 

3 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 195-96. "Oath of Freemen (1275): Ye shall swear that 
ye shall be faithful and loyal unto our lord the King, King of England . . . and 
the franchises and customs of the City ye shall maintain according to your power. 
. . . Ye shall take no apprentice for less than seven years, and ye shall cause him 
to be enrolled as such within the first year of your covenant, and at the end of his 
term, if he has well and loyally served you, you shall cause his egress to be enrolled. 
. . . And ye shall take no apprentice unless he be a free man and not a bondsman. 
All of which points aforesaid ye shall well and truly keep, so God you help and all 
his saints." 

4 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-179. "His ingress appears in the paper of apprentice- 
ships of the aforesaid Ward, anno 28 Edward I." "His ingress appears in the 
second paper of apprentices in the Ward of Walebrok, anno 28, Edward I." 

5 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-179. One of these reads as follows: "the said Hugh 
(the apprentice) proffered before the Chamberlain a certain writing indented of 
his apprenticeship, sealed with the seal of the said William (master)." 



in Colonial New England and New York 3 

be enrolled, and also to do the same at the end of the term, 
unless it is dissolved by the death of one or the other. 
Further, that if the master die within the term, the apprentice 
shall come to the Guildhall, and do as he shall be ordered 
before he do anything of the trade; and lastly, that those 
who are already apprentices shall do no work after Sunday 
next, until such time as their masters shall come to the 
Guildhall and cause their covenant and term to be en- 
rolled. 6 In September, 1300, an Act was passed by the 
Mayor and the Aldermen to the effect that the names of 
all apprentices who thenceforth failed to be entered by their 
masters "on the paper" within their first year should be 
enrolled on a certain schedule to be produced at the next 
Husting before the Mayor and Aldermen, with the view to 
the defaulting apprentices being fined at the discretion of 
the Chamberlain and two Aldermen specially elected for 
that purpose. 7 Subsequent records give abundant evidence 
of the enforcement of this Act. 8 

The rules prescribed for apprenticeship among the fish- 
mongers were afterwards applied to other trades. Thus, 
among a long series of ordinances (presumably of the year 
1312-1313) we find the following: (1) that thenceforth no 
person shall receive an apprentice unless he himself be free 
of the city, and cause their covenant to be enrolled, of 
whatever condition such apprentice may be; (2) that no 
apprentice after fully serving his term, shall follow his trade 
in the city before he shall have been sworn of the freemen 
and thereupon enrolled; (3) that no apprentice shall be 
received for a less term than seven years, according to the 
ancient usage. 9 The matter of fact manner in which ap- 

6 Liber Albus, I, 383-84. 7 Cal. Let. Bk. C, 78. Liber Custumarum, 93. 

8 Cal. Let. Bk. B, 146. A record under the year 1305 reads: "Thomas de 
Kydeminstre, draper and hosier, came before John le Blound, Mayor, John de 
Wangrave, and Richard Poterel, Chamberlain, and made fine with the Common- 
alty for payment of half a mark for a trespass committed touching his apprentice 
Walter, son of William de Beverlee, taverner, not being enrolled within a year, 
according to the custom of the City and his oath; to be paid within a fortnight." 

9 Liber Albus, I, 272. 



4 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

prenticeship is mentioned, and the frequent use of the phrase 
''according to the ancient usage" presuppose that it was 
a common practice, and that it must have been in use for 
some length of time. Further, it shows that apprentices 
were so frequently employed by Londoners that legislation 
concerning them was necessary. Most of the London gilds 
seem to have adopted apprenticeship by 1350, for rules regu- 
lating it are common at that date. 10 

The gilds early recognized the custom of taking apprentices. 
They saw the advantages in compelling all craftsmen to go 
through a course of training before being admitted to the 
trade as masters, and as time went on, they sought to effect 
this by legislation. The content of the records indicates, 
however, that this prerequisite was probably never com- 
pletely enforced. Some of the ordinances, drawn up by 
the various London crafts and confirmed by the Mayor, ad- 
mitted the attestation of sufficient skill by the craft officials 
as an alternative to apprenticeship. 11 In many cases they 
speak of the freedom of the trade as a thing that could be 
inherited, 12 or bought. 13 But, apprenticeship came gradually 
to be adopted as the most usual method of entering a craft, 
and by 1400 was practiced by most gilds, and required by 
most towns. 

10 An examination of the records for the years 1309-13 shows that 415 ap- 
prentices acknowledged themselves bound to at least fifty different crafts or trades 
(Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-169). 

11 Memorials, 234. Ordinance of the White Tawyers, 1346: "that no one who 
has not been an apprentice and has not finished his term of apprenticeship in the 
said trade, shall be made free of the same trade; unless it be attested by the over- 
seers for the time being, or by four persons of the said trade, that such person is 
able and sufficiently skilled to be made free of the same." 

Cal. Let. Bk. G, 159. 

12 Memorials, 547. Leathersellers' ordinances of 1398. "That from hence- 
forth no one shall set any man, child, or woman, to work in the same trade, if 
such person be not first bound apprentice, and enrolled in the trade; their wives 
and children only excepted." 

Smith, English Gilds, 390. City of Worcester, Ordinances of 1467. 
Hist. Charters and Constitutional Documents of the City of London, 186. 
City Ordinance of 1638. Widows may use trade without apprenticeship. 

13 Memorials, 217. Cal. Let. Bk. D, 99, 104, 115, 118, 130, 146, 151, 152, 159, 
160, 162, 182. 



in Colonial New England and New York 5 

Apprenticeship was also a qualification of admission into 
the franchise. A thirteenth century record mentions three 
methods of obtaining the franchise: "Sed sciendum est quod 
tribus modis adquiritur homini libertas civitatis: — ■ Primo 
quod sit homo natus in civitate legitime ex patre; secondo 
quod homo sit apprenticius cum libero homine per septem 
annos et non minus, tertio quod homo mutuat suam liberta- 
tem coram majore aliis aldermanis cum camerario civi- 
tatis." 14 All three methods — birth, apprenticeship, and 
redemption — ■ constituted the practice for several centuries. 
A London ordinance of 1368 states that " there were only 
three ways whereby the said franchise could be obtained, 
viz., by birth, apprenticeship, or by presentment of some 
mistery before the Mayor, Aldermen, and Chamberlain." 15 
A later ordinance of 1432 decrees "that fro this day for- 
ward no man be admitted in to the saide Fraunchise but 
he be born or made apprentice or officer with ynne the 
Citee." 16 Freedom "bi birth or apprenticialitie " became 
the most approved practice. 17 The custom of obtaining the 
franchise by redemption was in vogue, but was strongly dis- 
countenanced; a London ordinance of December 10,' 1434 
orders "the Aldermen to cause a certain number of men 
freemen of the City either by birth or apprenticeship, and 
not by redemption, to be elected members of the Common 
Council." 18 Indeed, the practice of obtaining the freedom 
of the City by redemption became so lax that an ordinance 
was passed by the Common Council to bring it within 
bounds. 19 

In this matter, as in others, the gilds followed the gen- 
eral practice that had been established by law; after all 
their regulations were but part of the common laws of the 

14 Chronicle of Edward I and Edward II, Vol. I, 85. 

15 Cal. Let. Bk. G, 179. 

16 Cal. Let. Bk. K, 161. 

17 Ibid., 161. 

18 Ibid., 190. 

19 Ibid., 164. 



6 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

country. 20 Upon completing his term the apprentice be- 
came a citizen and a member of the craft at the same time. 
Just as the city^ admitted into the franchise the sons of free- 
men, so the crafts admitted the sons of craftsmen without 
apprenticeship. In similar fashion the gilds disapproved the 
practice of redemption. 21 

Originally apprenticeship had been regulated only by 
private agreement between the master and the learner. 
Naturally there were abuses on each side; where public 
supervision had not yet become general covenants and 
oaths were frequently disregarded, and one or the other of the 
contracting parties suffered. 22 In order to insure fair play 
between members, and between masters and apprentices, the 
gilds came gradually to exercise the right of supervising the 
practice of apprenticeship. They realised, too, that not only 
must individual rights be protected, that fair conditions must 
be obtained for those who worked in the trade, but also that 
a tradition of skilled workmanship must be established and per- 
petuated in order to insure the production of wares of good 
quality. These objects could only be accomplished by manda- 
tory legislation regulating the conditions of apprenticeship, and 
in this they were assisted by municipal authorities who confirmed 
the gild ordinances and gave them the force of law. 

The earliest records concerning the regulation of apprentice- 
ship reveal all the important characteristics of later practice. 
From the first craftsmen were forbidden by municipal legis- 
lation to take more apprentices than they were able to sup- 
port and teach. 23 In some of the craft ordinances the same 

20 Liber Albus, 157, 272; Memorials, 282. 

Memorials, 241. London Pewterers, 1348: "No one shall receive an appren- 
tice against the usages of the City." 

Coventry insisted that no crafts make laws except with the consent of the 
Mayor. City ordinances of 1421, 1475, I 5 I 5> m Coventry Leet Book, 29, 419, 645. 

21 Cal. Let. Bk. I, 63. 

22 Cal. Let. Bk. H, 34. As early as 1376 a Scrivener is imprisoned for making 
a false indenture of apprenticeship with a boy. 

Cal. Let. Bk. I, 215. 

23 Liber Albus, I, 383. "Et que nulle desormes ne preigne apprentice plus qe 
deux ou trois a plus forsques sicomes il est de poiar de eux sustenir." 



in Colonial New England and New York 7 

idea shows itself, that the taking of apprentices ought to 
depend altogether on the ability of the master "to keep, 
inform, and teach" them. 24 In the fifteenth century the 
rules become more definite in regard to limiting the number 
of apprentices each master might take. Thus, in 1466, 
the Tailors of Exeter limit the craftsmen to one apprentice. 25 
In the Hull Weavers' Composition of 1490 we read: "Item, 
it is agreyd that non of that occupacon shall take and kepe 
bot two apprentises." 26 A similar requirement appears in 
the Coventry Cappers' Ordinances of 1496. 27 The Brick- 
layers of Hull, in their ordinances of 1598, also limit the 
master to two apprentices, but add the requirement that an 
interval of four years must elapse between the enrollment of 
each. 28 The custom had become pretty well established by 
this time, and the ordinances of the next century merely 
repeat the terms of earlier legislation. 29 

Liber Custumarum, 81. Articles of the Saddlers and Joiners of London, 1308: 
"Et qe nul fuster ne receyve aprentiz, si le seignour ne soit fraunk homme de la 
citee, et quil de soit de poiar de li sustenir a parfaire sez covenauntz." 

24 Memorials, 278. 

25 Smith, Eng. Gilds, 315-16. "Also hyt ys ordeyned, by the M. and Wardons 
and all the hole crafte, that fro hense-forthe no man of the said crafte shall hold 
but 3 seruauntes, and 00 pryntes at the most, wt-owte lesanse of the M. and War- 
donsse for the tyme beyng, apon payne of xlti. s." 

See Clothworkers' Court Book, for 1537-1639, reprinted in Geo. Unwin, In- 
dustrial Organization in the 16th and 17th Centuries, 230. Master permitted to 
have but one apprentice. 

26 J. M. Lambert, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, 206. 

Cal. Let. Bk. K, 200. Mayor and Aldermen grant petition of London Girdlers, 
1435, that no man of the craft should have more than two apprentices. 
Cal. Let. Bk. K, 376. Founders of London, 148 1. 
Cal. Let. Bk. L, 201. London Brewers, 1482. 

27 Coventry Leet Book, 573. 

28 Lambert, 278. "Item, that none of this brotherhoode shall have above 
twoe apprentices at once, and that the firste apprentice shall have served fower 
yeares of his tearme before the seconde be taken to serve as an apprentice, in paine 
of everie one doeinge to the contrarie, to paie for everie tyme so doing, 3s." 

29 Lambert, 234. Hull Tailors' Ordinances of 161 7: "That none should take 
a second prentice till the first has served four years; nor should take a third till 
the second had served five years." 

Ibid., 313. Hull Cobblers' Ordinances of 1680: "And further is statuted, 
ordered and agreed upon that no free brother of the same trade shall take or en- 



8 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

All the crafts required an entry-fee to be paid by the 
apprentice upon enrollment, and an exit-fee when he had 
served his term. The exit-fee signalised the admission of 
the apprentice into craft membership as a master and as a 
freeman of the City. The London Lorimers, mentioned 
above, 30 required in 1261 an entrance fee of 30 shillings, 
the Tailors of Lincoln, in 1328, required 2 shillings. 31 Per- 
haps the most common fee for both entry and exit during 
the fourteenth century was 2s. 6d. This seems to have 
been the established fee during the years 1309-1313 for the 
crafts of London. 32 We may reasonably assume, therefore, 
that this was the generally accepted practice as far as London 
was concerned, and that it was established by municipal 
legislation. During the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seven- 
teenth centuries there was no uniformity of practice in 
this matter; the amounts varied from 4d. to £2. 33 This 

tertaine a Second Apprentice imtill the first Apprentice hath served as an Appren- 
tice for the space of four yeares." 

Ibid., 296. Hull Coopers' Ordinances of 1681: "Item it is ordered that noe 
Cooper ffree of this Companic shall kepe above two apprentices att once, upon 
paine to forfeit and pay for every such offence to the use of the said Company for 
every weeke herein offending, 10s." 

30 Page 1. 

31 Smith, Eng. Gilds, 183. In 1328 the Lincoln Tailors incorporated in their 
ordinances the rule that "If any master of the gild takes any one to live with him 
as an apprentice, in order to learn the work of the Tailor's craft, the apprentice 
shall pay two shillings to the gild." 

Beverley Town Doc, 125. Beverley Butchers, 1365: "at his entre iis." 
Manuscripts of Beverley, 92. Beverley Shoemakers: 2od. 

32 Upon examining some 415 records concerning apprenticeship during the 
years 1309-13 13 (Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-179), I found the phrase "for his 
ingress 2s. 6d.," used 244 times; and the phrase ' for his exit, 2s. 6d.," 
used 75 times. This uniform fee was adopted by the following fifty crafts or 
trades, which represent fairly well the field of industrial occupation at that time : 
Apothecary, Barber, Blader, Boatman, Braeler, Bucklemaker, Bureller, Butcher, 
Buttermonger, Capper, Chandler, Chaucer, Cheesemaker, Cooper, Corder, Cord- 
wainer, Cornmonger, Currier, Draper, Fishmonger, Fruiter, Fripperer, Fuster, 
Girdler, Glover, Goldsmith, Haberdasher, Hatter, Haymonger, Hosier, Iron- 
monger, Joiner, Knifemaker, Mercer, Ointer, Painter, Pepperer, Plumber, Potter, 
Pouchmaker, Saddler, Salter, Sealmaker, Shearman, Skinner, Tanner, Taverner, 
Vintner, Woodmonger, Woolmonger. 

33 On March 2, 1443, the London Common Council decreed that "in order to 



in Colonial New England and New York 9 

requirement, like the ordinances directly concerned with 
the limitation of apprentices, served not only to keep down 
their number, and hence promote efficient trade training — ■ 
one of the primary objects of gild regulation — ■ but also 
protected adult workmen from the competition of juvenile 
labor. 34 Furthermore, it operated to reduce the number 
of those who attained the mastership, and thereby to di- 
minish the competition of adult craftsmen with each other. 
Apprentices were obliged by municipal legislation to enrol 
within the first year of their term. This regulation appeared 
very early 35 in the history of English apprenticeship, and 
was the authority for a long established custom. The gilds 
repeated it in their own ordinances. 36 Enrollment was a 
public matter; the apprentice appeared, 37 or was brought, 38 

relieve the increasing debts of the Chamber, the fees for enrolment of apprentices 
should for the next four years be doubled; viz., for entrances 5s., and the exits 
of the same 7s." Cal. Let. Bk. K, 292. 

Beverley Town Docs., 103, 116; Manuscripts of Beverley, 97, 100; Coventry 
Leet Book, 641, 645. 

34 Cal. Let. Bk. K, 200. London Girdlers, 1435, complain: "nowe adayes 
ther is so gret abondaunce of apprentices of the seid craft that many freemen of 
the same craft which have but small quantitee of goodes of ther owen and were 
wont to live by the werk that thei made to other men of the same craft may 
now have no werk wt in the seid craft but som of hem be come Waterberers and 
laborers." 

35 As early as 1275. See page 2. 

Cal. Let. Bk. H, 391. City ordinance of 1392. 
Cal. Let. Bk. I, 38. City ordinance of 1404. 
Ibid., 134. City ordinance of 1414. 
Liber , Albus I, 655. 

36 Liber Custumarum, 81. Articles of the Saddlers and Joiners of London, 
1308: "et qil le face enrouler en la Chaumbre de la Gihale, dedenz le primer an, 
sur la peyne qe appent." 

Memorials, 258. Ordinances of London Furbishers, 1350. 

37 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 97. "Sept. 29, 1309: The same day John Whitlock . . . came 
before the Chamberlain and acknowledged himself apprentice of Geoffrey de Sterte- 
ford, glover, for a term of seven years from Michaelmas, 2s. 6d." 

Ibid., 122. "July 11, 13 10: The same day Richard . . . came before the Alder- 
men and Chamberlain, and acknowledged himself apprentice to John de Porkle, 
painter, for a term of six years." 

Ibid., 144. "May 12, 1311, Godfrey . . . came before the aforesaid Mayor and 
Aldermen." 

38 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 66. "Mar. 16, 1310: Richard le Keu, chaloner, made 



io Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

before the master of the craft and also before the mayor, or 
aldermen, or city chamberlain, and acknowledged himself 
indentured to a certain master craftsman. This acknowledge 
ment, and the terms of the indenture or contract between 
the master and the apprentice were then enrolled, and became 
a public record. 39 Upon completion of the term of service 
the apprentice again appeared before the municipal authori- 
ties, and sought admission to his craft. The "Book" or 
"paper of apprentices" 40 was then consulted, and if "good 
men of the ward testified that the said apprentice had faith- 
fully served his said master as apprentice," 41 and was "a 
good and trusty man and fit to carry on the said trade," 
the apprentice paid the exit-fee and became a full-fledged 
master. This requirement of a double enrollment, upon 
entry and exit, secured for the contracting parties a certain 
amount of protection from abuse. 

By the middle of the fourteenth century most crafts had 
required apprenticeship as the necessary preHminary to 

fine of half a mark that he had with him apprentices and did not cause them to 
be enrolled according to the custom of the city, and he was commanded to bring 
those apprentices for enrolment under penalty prescribed." 

Smith, Eng. Gilds, 316. Tailors' Ordinances, 1466. "Also hit is ordeyned 
by the M. and Wardons and all the hole crafte, that euery persone of the sayd 
crafte that taketh aprentys, shall brynge hym before the M. and Wardons, and 
there to haue his Indenture in-rolled." 

29 See Oath of Freemen, 1275, page 2, note 3. 

The London Ordinance of 1 2 79 on 280, mentioned on page 2, required the master 
and apprentice to enroll their covenant and term "enceste manere qe le seignour 
et le prentice en ceo qe il meinovere en le mister veignent a la Guyhalle et facent 
enroller le covenant et le terme." (Liber Albus, I, 383-84) 

Liber Custumarum, 124. Ordinances of London Weavers, 1300: "et qe lour 
covenant soit reconu en Court." 

Memorials, 241. London Pewterers, 1384. 

Calendar of Letters, 164. 1369. 

Coventry Leet Book, 561. Coventry required, in 1494, that the apprentice's 
name be "entred in a boke remaynyng with the seid Sty ward (Steward) as a 
Registre." 

40 Apparently each ward of the City of London kept a "Book" or "paper of 
apprentices." The reference appears 114 times for 23 wards, during the years 
1275-1322 (Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-179). 

41 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 106, 122, 124, 149, 150, 152, 154, 157, 161, 170, 178. 



in Colonial New England and New York 



ii 



mastership. It had become a fixed custom at this time to 
require the master and apprentice to draw up an indenture 
or covenant containing the articles of mutual agreement which 
defined their relationship to each other. 42 The usual term 
of service was seven years, although terms as short as two 
years and as long as sixteen appear frequently in the 
records. 43 Municipal and craft ordinances when they touched 

42 City records for the years 1309-13 mention frequently "a certain writing 
indented of his apprenticeship," and "a certain writing indented made between 
them." (Cal. Let. Bk. D, 96-179) 

A letter, dated 135 1, contains "by indentures between them made according 
to the custom of the City of London." (Calendar of Letters, 11) 

Cal. Let. Bk. K, 337. Ordinances of the London Cordwainers, confirmed by 
the Mayor and Aldermen, April 6, 145 1: "that it may be ordeigned enact and 
enrolled in the forsaid Chaumber of Guyldhall that no manere persone nowe 
beyng enfrauncheised in the said craft ne which hereafter shall be from hens forthe 
resceive ne take eny manere persone to teche and enforme him in the same craft, 
but that he take him as an apprentice by a peyre of indentures of apprentishode 
to be made betwene the maister and every suche persone after the rule and or- 
dinance this Citee." 

The Ordinances of the City of Worcester, Sept. 14, 1467, required "that ther 
be endenturs made bitwen hem for the seid term as the law requirith." (Smith, 
Eng. Gilds, 390) 

Lambert, 216. Hull Glovers, 1499. 

43 The following table based on records for the years 1309-1313 (Cal. Let. Bk. 
D, 96-179) shows the length of term, and the number of times each term appears: 





Appears 




Appears 


Term 


in records 


Term 


in records 


2 years 


3 times 


10 years 


44 times 


3 


3 


11 


6 


4 


2 


12 


13 


5 


3 


13 


1 


6 


12 


14 


6 


7 


138 " 


15 


1 


8 


64 " 


16 


1 


9 


17 


"full term" 


IOI 



The Letter-Book before us records the apprenticeships of 415 boys to at least 
50 different trades. 138 boys acknowledged themselves apprenticed for seven- 
year terms, one third of the number recorded. The expression "full term" ap- 
pears 101 times. It is safe to say that the majority of these "full terms" were for 
seven years. 

A letter dated &ug. 18, 1354, contains the following excerpt which represents 
the type of record that appears frequently: "bound apprentice according to the 
custom of the City of London, for a term of seven years." (Calendar of Letters, 
65) 



12 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

upon the proper term of apprenticeship, usually insisted 
upon its lasting at least seven years. This period was re- 
quired by a London ordinance as early as 1279. 44 The 
ordinances of nearly all the crafts conformed to a common 
type which may be represented by the Weavers' Ordinances 
of 1300: "No weaver shall receive an apprentice for less 
than a term of seven years." 45 The Hatters in 1347, 46 the 
Braelers in 1355, 47 and the Masons 48 in the following year, 
passed by-laws enforcing a minimum term of seven years, 
"according to the usages of the City." Outside London 
this requirement appears as early as 1307, in the ordi- 
nances of the York Girdlers, 49 and as early as 142 1, in the 
Coventry Barbers' Composition. 50 Again, we find the City 
of Worcester, in 1467, demanding a "fulle vii yere of prentis- 
hode." 51 Numerous records might be quoted to show how 
generally accepted this custom was until its final establish- 
ment by the Statute of Apprentices, 1562. 52 

For the purposes of this study chief interest attaches to 
the terms of the indenture or covenant between master and 
apprentice. Several early indentures of apprenticeship have 
been printed. 53 One of the earliest, dated 1291, contains most 
of the articles of later covenants, although its phraseology 

44 Page 2. 

45 Liber Custumarum, 124. "Et qe nul teler aprentiz ne receyve a meyns qe 
a terme de vii aunz." 

46 Memorials, 238. 

47 Memorials, 278. 

48 Memorials, 282. 

Ibid., 439. Ordinances of London Cutlers, 1379. 
Ibid., 354. London Haberdashers, 1371. 

49 York Memorandum Book, Vol. I, 181. "That na maister fra this tyme 
forth tak nane apprentice for less terme than vii yere." 

50 Coventry Leet Book, 225. 

51 Smith, Eng. Gilds, 390. 

52 Coventry Leet Book, 573. Coventry Cappers, 1496. 

Lambert, 205. Hull Weavers, 1490; Ibid., 216. Hull Glovers, 1499; etc. 

53 1 291, in Hudson and Tingey, The Records of the City of Norwich, Vol. I, 
245; 1396, in Archaeological Journal, XXIX (London, 1872), 184; 1414, in Hib- 
bert, Influence and Development of English Gilds, 52; 1451, in Rogers, History 
of Agriculture and Prices, Vol. IV, 98; 1480, in Cunningham, English Industry. 



in Colonial New England and New York 13 

does not conform to the type which is represented by two 
indentures of the years 1396, 54 and 1414. The latter are 
practically identical in form and content with the indentures 
of the present century. From them we learn that the ap- 
prentice bound himself to live with his master for a certain 
period of years, promised to serve him diligently, obey his 
" reasonable" commands, keep his secrets, protect him from 
injury "by others," abstain from such games as jiice and 
cards, and the "haunting" of taverns, neither to commit 
fornication nor contract matrimony, and not to absent him- 
self from his master's service without permission. 55 The 
master, on the other hand, promised to instruct the boy in 
his trade, and give him bed, board, and clothing. 56 This 
instruction must have been fairly skilled in character be- 
cause the master himself had graduated from a similar 
course of training, and had proved his skill before the gild. 57 
If the master did not fulfill his agreement in respect to in- 
struction and maintenance, he was reported to the gild by 
inspectors or "Searchers," and subjected to a penalty. 
Apprentices were taken from masters financially unable to 
support them, and indentured to others in the same craft 



54 See Appendix A. Copy of 1396 indenture of apprenticeship. 

55 Hibbert, 52. Indenture of apprenticeship from the Mercers' Company's 
Records, 1414. "A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla 
dicti Johannis absque ejus licentia nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum, 
talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri sui. Forni- 
cationem nee adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia dicti Johannis 
nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia magistri sui. Prae- 
cepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui ubique pro fideli posse ipsius 
Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem mandatis libenter obediet." 

56 Hudson and Tingey, I, 245. Indenture dated June 10, 1291. "eidem Johanni 
in omnibus prout decet humiliter ndeliter competenter pro posse suo interim 
deseruiendo . . . et secreta sua que fueri ntconcelanda firmiter concelabit. . . . 
Et dictus Johannes per totum dictum tempus docebit dictum Hubertum ofheium 
suum quo utitur . . . Et idem Johannes vel eius assignatus per totum dictum tem- 
pus inueniet dicto Huberto cibos et potum vestimenta linea et calciamenta." 

57 In order to insure efficient training, the craft of Writers of Court-letter re- 
quired in 1439 "That no one enfranchised of the craft, without special licence, 
shall occupy or hold open more than one shop, in order that he may watch his 
apprentices and examine all feates made by them." (Cal. Let. Bk. K, 235) 



14 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

for the remainder of the original term. In some cases, and 
with the sanction of the gild, a master might sell some years 
of an apprentice's service to another master. 58 A new in- 
denture was then made and recorded with the conditions of 
the transfer. In the event of the master's death the ap- 
prentice usually served the remainder of his term with the 
person to whom the indenture was bequeathed. 59 Gild and 
municipal authorities alike exercised a rigid supervision 
over both parties to the indenture, and insisted upon the 
fulfilment of all lawful agreements. 60 

It is evident that the relationship was not only that of 
master-craftsman to learner, but was also, essentially, that 
of father to son. The master was responsible for the moral 
welfare of the apprentice as well as for teaching him his 
trade. In cases of transgression and incorrigibility the 
master was permitted to administer the proper punishment, 
but if the apprentice was unduly punished he could appeal to 
and obtain redress from the craft and city authorities. 61 

58 A letter dated Nov. 5, 1369 mentions "John Notekyn, whose term of ap- 
prenticeship had been sold," (Calendar of Letters, 170) 

Cal. Let. Bk. D, 171. 

59 A letter dated 13 51 contains the following: "The said John de Pateneye 
having lately died, had devised by will the remaining term of the said apprentice 
to Agnes his wife." (Calendar of Letters, 11) 

A London will dated Aug. 6, 1428, reads: "I wil that the same Henri have all 
the termes comyng to me of Henry Clopton, myn other apprentice." (The Fifty 
Earliest English Wills, 78) 

60 Middlesex Records, II, 47. Court record dated Jan. 12, 1608, reads: "Or- 
dered that Thomas Thomas an apprentice to John Stocke of Ratcliffe taylor shalbe 
discharged out of his master's service, and his indentures to be cancelled because 
John Stocke hath not maintayned him with sufficient apparell as an apprentice 
ought to have." 

Ibid., Ill, 328. Nov. 5, 1663, master punished "for that he refuseth to teach 
him (the apprentice) his trade." 

61 Smith, Eng. Gilds, 322. The records of the Exeter Tailors contain the fol- 
lowing: "Md., of a-warde y-made bi the maister and Wardons the 16th day of 
July, the yeere of the Reigne of Kyng Edward the 4th, the 21st (1480), bitwene 
William Peeke and John Lynch; for that the said William un-lawfully chasted 
hym, in brusyn of his arm and broke his hedd. And for that it was chuged, bi the 
said maister and wardons, that the said William Peeke shuld pay, for his leche 
craifte, 5s; and for his table, for a moneth 3s. 4d; and for amendis, 15s; and to 
craifte, 2od, for a fyne for his mysbehaueing aynst the craift." 



in Colonial New England and New York 15 

Since the responsibility for his good behavior rested with the 
master, the boy's moral conduct was under constant super- 
vision both inside and outside working hours. This was re- 
quired by gild and city ordinances, and was made possible 
by the fact that he lived with his master. 

So far only boy-apprenticeship has been considered. It 
may be pertinent, at this point, to mention the fact that 
girls were admitted into the crafts under the same con- 
ditions that regulated the practice for boys. 62 It is not an 
uncommon thing to find women and girls enrolled as mem- 
bers of crafts where one would least expect them, such as the 
founders, 63 barber-surgeons, 64 brewers, 65 carpenters, 66 wheel- 
wrights, 67 and clockmakers. 68 

Let us turn now from the foregoing brief treatment of 
apprenticeship as a local custom, to its establishment as a 
national institution. Until 1562 apprenticeship had been a 
general practice throughout England, but its regulation had 
differed in different localities. In that year the Statute of 
Artificers transformed it into a national system which op- 
Middlesex Records, III, 328. Master punished by town authorities, 1663, 
for administering "unlawful correction." 

62 Cal. Let. Bk. E, 200. A London record of June 4, 1335, mentions "the said 
Isabella and for teaching her a trade as an apprentice." 

Cal. Let. Bk. H, 391. London ordinance, 1392, "ordained that no man or 
woman take a male or female apprentice unless enrolled within the first year of 
their term." 

Cal. Let. Bk. I, 134. London ordinance of 1414. 

Burough Customs, 230. "Law of Apprentices, London, 1419: Married women 
who practice certain crafts in the city, may take girls as their apprentices, and 
these apprentices shall be bound by indentures." 

Ricart, Kalendar, 102. Girl-apprentices, 1479. 

Cal. Let. Bk. L, 186. Articles of Wiredrawers, 148 1, allow admission of wives, 
sons, daughters without apprenticeship. 

Cal. Let. Bk. K, 87, 104-05. 

63 Stahlschmidt, Surrey Bells and London Bell-Founders, 51, 54. 

64 Young, Annals of the Barber-Surgeons, 260. 

65 Unwin, Gilds of London, 191. 

66 Jupp, Carpenters, 161. 

67 Scott, Wheelwrights, 16. 

68 Overall, Clockmakers, 155. 

Coventry Leet Book, 271, 555, 652, 658, 673. 



1 6 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

era ted everywhere in the same manner. By this Act the 
whole gild system was remodeled, and trade regulation was 
made national instead of local. The reasons for drawing up 
the Act are given in the preamble: first, the need of a re- 
adjustment of the standard of wages; second, the necessity 
of codifying the numerous laws on the employment of serv- 
ants and apprentices. 69 Many of these were out of date, 
while others were contradictory. Here apprenticeship was 
regulated by custom, here by charter, and there left unde- 
termined. In one place a certain period of service was 
exacted, in another place a different period. The need for 
reform and the better regulation of industry had been felt 
for some time, and finally the leaders of the day saw that 
the remedy lay in a general and consolidating statute. This 
statute not only embodied the experience derived from 
earlier measures, but also incorporated everything worth 
taking in the ordinances of the gilds, and made general 
certain conditions of industry which the gilds had been the 
first distinctly to formulate. 

We are here concerned with the statute only so far as it 
affects the practice of apprenticeship. The principal regu- 
lations are the following: 

Every person being a householder and 24 years old at least, and exer- 
cising any art, mystery or manual occupation, may . . . retain the son of 
any freeman not occupying husbandry nor being a labourer, to be bound 

69 Select Statutes, 45. "Although there remain in force presently a great num- 
ber of statutes concerning apprentices, servants and labourers, as well in hus- 
bandry as in divers other . . . occupations, yet partly for the imperfection and 
contrariety .... in sundry of the said laws, and for the variety and number of them 
. . . the said laws cannot conveniently without the greatest grief and burden of 
the poor labourer and hired man be put into execution ... so if the substance of 
as many of the said laws as are meet to be continued shall be digested and re- 
duced into one sole law and Statute, and in the same an uniform Order prescribed 
and limited concerning the wages and other Orders for Apprentices, Servants and 
Labourers, there is good hope that it will come to pass, that the same law should 
banish Idleness, advance Husbandry, and yield unto the hired person, both in 
time of Scarcity and in time of Plenty, a convenient Proportion of Wages." 

This Act repealed 34 statutes since Edward III so far as they concerned the 
hiring, keeping, wages, etc., of servants, labourers, and apprentices. 



in Colonial New England and New York 17 

as an apprentice after the custom and order of the city of London for 
7 years at the least, so as the term of such apprentice do not expire afore 
such apprentice shall be of the age of 24 years at the least. 70 

Every person that shall have three apprentices in any of the said 
crafts of clothmaker, fuller, shearman, weaver, tailor, or shoemaker 
shall keep one journeyman, and for every other apprentice above the 
number of the said three apprentices one other journeyman, upon pain 
of every default therein £10. 71 

If any person shall be required by any householder having half a 
ploughland at the least in tillage to be an apprentice and to serve in 
husbandry or in any other kind of art before expressed and shall refuse 
so to do, then upon complaint of such householder made to one Justice 
of Peace in the county wherein such refusal is made, or to the mayor, 
bailiffs or head officer . . . they shall have full power to send for the same 
person so refusing; and if the said Justice or head officer shall think the 
said person meet to serve as an apprentice in that art . . . the said Justice 
or head officer shall have power ... to commit him unto ward, there to 
remain until he will be bounden to serve . . . and if any such master 
shall evil treat his apprentice ... or if the apprentice do not his duty to 
his master, then the said master or apprentice being grieved shall repair 
to one Justice of the Peace in the said county . . . who shall . . . take 
such order and direction between the said master and his apprentice as 
the equity of the case shall require. 72 

The apprenticeship clauses quoted above were, it seems, 
really intended to check departure from a rule which had 
become an established custom, and had been recognised and 
enforced by the gilds and local authorities. Any substan- 
tial householder might take a boy to serve as an apprentice 
in husbandry till his twenty-first or twenty-fourth year 
"as the parties can agree." For manufacturing industry 
the duration of apprenticeship was fixed; the old minimum 
of seven years service was required for all artisans, with the 
proviso added by the statute: "so as the term of such 
apprentice do not expire afore such apprentice shall be of 
the age of twenty-four years at the least." 73 Apparently 

70 Select Statutes, 50. 5 Eliz. c. 4. Sect. XIX. 

71 Select Statutes, 52. Sect. XXVI. 

72 Select Statutes, 52. Sect. XXVIII. 

73 Craft ordinances subsequent to 1562 insist upon the seven-year term, or 
"until 24 years of age." 



1 8 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

the objects were: to provide adequate trade training and 
to lessen unemployment by preventing employers from 
going outside the ranks of trained men. If a boy, not 
legally exempted, refused to serve "in husbandry or in any 
other kind of art," he was brought before a Justice of the 
Peace, and committed "unto ward there to remain until he 
will be bounden to serve." As in earlier gild practice ap- 
prentices must be bound by indenture, and the terms of 
the agreement enrolled; 74 and if either master or apprentice 
violated any of the articles of the indenture, the injured 
person could secure redress in a public court, at the hands 
of a Justice of the Peace or a "head officer." Furthermore, 
the proportion of apprentices to journeymen • was settled; 
in a number of trades, presumably those which showed a 
tendency for the apprenticeship system to be perverted 
into a means for obtaining cheap labor, every master who 

Lambert, 207. Hull Weavers' ordinances of 1564. 

Beverley Manuscripts, 83. Beverley Mercers, 1582: "7 years according to 
the Statute." 

Lambert, 252. Hull Joiners, 1598. 

Ibid., 286. Hull Coopers, 1598. 

Ibid., 278. Hull Bricklayers, 1599. 

Ibid., 234. Hull Tailors, 161 7: "Each apprentice should be twenty-four years 
old before his apprenticeship should expire." 

Ibid., 323. Hull Cordwainers, 1624: "24 yeares according to the Statute." 

Ibid., 254. Hull Joiners, 1629. 

Historical Charters, 189. London Ordinance of 1638. 

Lambert, 174. Hull Merchants, 1649. 

Ibid., 210. Hull Weavers, 1673. 

Ibid., 244. Hull Tailors, 1680: "Seven years according to the Statute." 

Smith, Eng. Gilds, 209. London Joiners, 1682. 

Lambert, 363. Hull Barbers, 17 14. 

74 Lambert, 244. Hull Tailors, 1680: "Indentures inrolled as well in the 
Town's book as in the Company's book . . . according to the Statute." 

Ibid., 313. Hull Cobblers, 1680: "in the Towne's booke." 

Ibid., 296. Hull Coopers, 1681: "enrolled in the Companie's booke . . . and 
in the ye townis Booke of Enrolments within one yeare." 

Ibid., 346. Hull Shipwrights, 1682: "at the Town's Hall." 

Ibid., 267, 287. In 1580 the following crafts of Hull agreed to take no ap- 
prentices without the consent of the Mayor and Aldermen: goldsmiths, smiths, 
pewterers, plumbers, glaziers, painters, cutlers, musicians, coopers, stationers, 
bookbinders, basketmakers. 



in Colonial New England and New York 19 

had more than three apprentices was compelled to employ 
one journeyman for every extra apprentice. The security 
which this requirement gave against overstocking with 
apprentices also facilitated their receiving proper instruction. 

The Poor Law of 1601 gave the public authorities ad- 
ditional powers with regard to apprenticeship. At the time 
when this Act was passed the relief of the poor was one of 
the most pressing questions of the day. The numbers and 
misery of the poor and unemployed had been increasing for 
centuries. The dissolution of the monasteries, the inclosure 
evils which attended the transition from husbandry to graz- 
ing, the fall in the demand for labor, successive debasements 
of the coinage, the rise of prices — all combined to create a 
situation of extreme distress among the lower classes. A 
natural consequence was that vagabondage, idleness, and 
poverty increased, and constituted a very real problem. 
In previous reigns numerous repressive statutes, imposing 
severe penalties upon the " sturdy beggar," had been tried 
out and proved ineffective. Perhaps the most successful 
remedy for this condition of widespread distress was that of 
compulsory apprenticeship as required by the Statute of 
1562. The legislators of Elizabeth had before them the 
experiments of Henry VIII and Edward VI, and their con- 
victions concerning these earlier attempts at remedial legis- 
lation were verified by the improvement which followed the 
passage of the Statute of Apprentices. It was, then, only 
natural that in 1601 they should see in apprenticeship a 
partial solution of the problem of pauperism, and in that 
year was enacted the Poor Law which consolidated previous 
Acts into one comprehensive measure designed to " provide 
work for those who could work, relief for those who could 
not, and punishment for those who would not." 75 

As with the Act of 1562, our chief interest in the Poor 
Law of 1 60 1 is in the sections that are concerned with ap- 
prenticeship. In this connection the following are im- 
portant: 

75 Cunningham, The Growth of English Industry and Commerce, II, 61. 



20 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Be it enacted . . . that the church- wardens of every parish, and four 
three or two substantial householders there, as shall be thought meet, 
having respect to the proportion and greatness of the same parish and 
parishes, to be nominated yearly . . . under the hand and seal of two or 
more justices of the peace in the same county . . . shall be called over- 
seers of the poor of the same parish: and they . . . shall take order from 
time to time, by and with the consent of two or more justices of the peace 
as is aforesaid for setting to work such children of all those whose parents 
shall not by the said church-wardens and overseers, or the greater part 
of them, be thought able to keep and maintain their children. . . . 

And be it further enacted that it shall be lawful for the said church- 
wardens and overseers, or the greater part of them, by the assent of 
any two justices of the peace aforesaid, to bind any such children, as 
aforesaid, to be apprentices, where they shall see convenient, till such 
man-child shall come to the age of four and twenty years and such woman- 
child to the age of one and twenty years, or the time of her marriage; 
the same to be effectual to. all purposes, as if such child were of full age, 
and by indenture or covenant bound him or herself. 76 

This Act made it lawful for church-wardens and over- 
seers to apprentice all poor-children, males until twenty- 
four years of age, and females until twenty-one or marriage. 
In 1767 (7 Geo. III. c. 39) the term for parish-apprentices 
was revised to read: "for seven years only or until the 
age of twenty-one years," and in 1778 (18 Geo. III. c. 47) 
a general Act declared that no apprentice should be bound 
after twenty-one years of age. It is important to note at 
this point that Poor Law apprenticeship differed from in- 
dustrial apprenticeship, in that its primary object was not so 
much to teach the apprentice a trade as to "bind him out" 
to a person who would maintain him. It was the duty of 
the overseers and church- wardens to provide him with "bed, 
board and clothing," and a guardian. Although technical 
instruction was not included, it so happened that a great 
many "pauper apprentices" received such training from 
masters who were engaged in industrial pursuits. In ac- 
cordance with the earlier custom an indenture was required 
to be drawn up setting forth the terms under which the 
apprentice served, and this agreement was publicly recorded. 

76 Select Statutes, 103. 



in Colonial New England and New York 21 

The terms of the indenture were similar to those for the in- 
dustrial apprentices; the phraseology, however, differed 
slightly. In this case the overseers were parties to the con- 
tract, they "put out" or "bound" poor-children, and their 
names appeared in the indenture. Furthermore, all apprentic- 
ing or binding, to be legal, must be done with consent of 
two Justices of the Peace, and to these officers were re- 
ferred all complaints by the contracting parties. 

In this study we are not especially interested in the enforce- 
ment of the Acts of 1562 and 1601, but rather in the practice 
which they defined and established. The records show that 
these laws were rather irregularly administered. In some 
instances the apprenticeship clauses of the Statute of Ap- 
prentices were disregarded. We know also that the Poor 
Law of 1 60 1 did not adequately provide for the physical 
well-being of parish-apprentices; many cases of abuse are 
recorded. But they did give legal authority to a practice 
which was continued in England until the early 19th 
century. In 18 14 the apprenticeship clauses of the Statute 
of Apprentices were repealed, and in 1834 the Poor Law 
Amendment Act was passed. With the enactment of these 
Statutes the old apprenticeship system came to an end. 

In the succeeding chapters an attempt will be made to 
show the reproduction and continuation of the apprenticeship 
system in the English colonies of New England and New 
York. Several important modifications of the old system 
were made in colonial practice; some features disappeared, 
others more significant for the history of American colonial 
education were added. The emphasis throughout will be 
upon the educational aspects of this practice. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PRACTICE OF APPRENTICESHIP IN THE 
NEW PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS BAY 
COLONIES 

In the English colonies in America the practice of ap- 
prenticeship enjoyed a geographical distribution as wide- 
spread as the colonies themselves. The earliest settlers 
brought with them the custom and tradition of the mother- 
country, and continued those usages which they found 
expedient to their needs. In some instances, as we shall see, 
the English practice was modified to suit conditions, and 
it came soon to assume a new significance in the life of the 
time. Indeed, the apprenticeship system played a far more 
important part in colonial life than we have been accustomed 
to ascribe to it; its significance has not been sufficiently 
emphasized. Not only was apprenticeship of fundamental 
social and economic importance, as in England, but it was 
the most fundamental educational institution of the period. 

There were two kinds or classes of child-apprenticeship 
in the American colonies: voluntary, and compulsory, or 
forced. 1 The voluntary apprentice bound himself "by his 
own free will and consent" to a master in order to learn a 
trade. The second class of apprentices comprises those who 
were bound out by colony or town authorities in accordance 
with the practice established by the Statute of Artificers 
and the Poor Law of 1601. The act of 1562, as such, was 
not continued in the New England and New York colonies; 
at least they did not interpret literally, and enforce the 
provision which permitted "any householder having half 
a ploughland at the least in tillage" to require "any person 

1 This study is not concerned with adult apprentices, redemptioners, and in- 
dented servants. 



in Colonial New England and New York 23 

to be an apprentice to serve in husbandry or in any other 
kind of art before expressed." The general principles, and 
procedure, however, were adopted in most cases without 
direct action by colonial legislatures. All children "not 
having estates otherwise to maintain themselves" were 
obliged to engage in some form of useful occupation, and 
apprenticeship, as in England, was the customary method 
of entering a trade. The boy of average means chose the 
calling he desired to follow, or his parent or guardian chose 
it for him, and apprenticed himself to a master who could 
give the necessary instruction. Poor-children were bound 
out by town officials to masters who could provide mainte- 
nance as required by the Law of 1601. Later, as we shall 
see, when colony and town legislation turned its attention 
to the care of poor-apprentices, masters were obliged to give 
them trade-training and education. 

From the beginning, in New England, we find evidence 
of the continuance of an important aspect of the English 
practice, i.e., public enrollment of indentures. When a 
master took an apprentice he was obliged, with the appren- 
tice, to subscribe to a mutual covenant or indenture before 
reliable witnesses. This document, to be legal, must then 
be registered or recorded with the town authorities. As a 
public record, it assured both parties a large amount of 
protection from violation of the articles of their agreement. 
That this requirement was generally observed is evident 
from the fact that most of the records of apprenticeship are 
contained in court, and town-meeting minutes. 2 There 
occurred but few instances of non-compliance with this regu- 
lation. Lechford, in 1639, entered in his diary a case of 
violation of covenant, and of the enrollment requirement: 

Dermondt Matthew did bind Teg Matthew his sonne a child of 9 
yeares old apprentice to the said George Strange for ten yeares from the 
said 9th of May (1639) with Covenant to keepe him two yeares at school. 

2 These records follow such headings as: "At a meeting" ; "At a General 
Court"; "At a Court before the Governor & Assistants"; "Things done by 
the Govr & Cowncell." 



24 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

. . . But the said George Strange hath without the consent of the said 
Dermondt sold the said Tegg to one Mr. Browne of Salem to his the 
said Dermondts great grief of heart & contrary to the said Covenant. And 
whereas the said Dermondt being an illitered man & trusting upon the 
faire promises of the said George Strange that he would ever use him well 
& shew him his Indentures as often as he would now the said Dermondt 
having no chest nor box to put the said Indentures in they were rotted 
& spoiled in his pocket before he was aware. Notwithstanding the 
said George Strange refuseth to let the said Dermondt or his Friends see 
the Indentures. Therefore the said Dermondt Matthew humbly prayeth 
the Court that the said Indentures may be shewed to the Court by the said 
George Strange & that they may be recorded. 3 

To remind the inhabitants of the English regulation, and 
to prevent an increase of such violations, Boston, in 1660, 
passed the following law: 

All indentures made between any master and servant shall bee brought 
in and enrolled in the Town's Records within one month after the con- 
tract made, on penalty of ten shillings be paid by the master att the 
time of the Apprentices being made free. 4 

At the expiration of the term of service the master ap- 
peared again "Att a meeting" of the town officials, and 
' 'acknowledged ... his saruant hath serued his time of 
Aprentiship according to his Endenturs." 5 Completions, 
as well as enrollments, must be entered in the town records. 
If the apprentice had "well and truly" served his master, 

3 Lechford's Note Book, 251. 

Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, III, 366. 

4 Boston Records, II, 157 

Occasional records, of which the following is a type, refer to this regulation: 
" 20.1.61. Att a meeting of Hezekiah Usher, Petter Olliver . . . Christopher Pickett 
with the Consent of ye Selectmen, put forth his daughter Mary Pickett an ap- 
prentice for 14 yeares and 4 monthes to Griffine Craft of Roxberry as appears by 
indenture baring date the 18 March 61 wick Indenture is Kept amongst tke Town 
Records. 1 ' (Boston Records, VII, 6) 

Boston Records, VII, 67. A Boston order of 1672 directs parents to "make 
returne of the names of Mastrs & Children soe put out to seruice, with their In- 
dentures to the Selectmen at their nexte monethly Meeting." 

Watertown Records, I, 129. "A metting of the selectmen . . . the 27th of 
march 1677 ... . and Simon Stone to make agrement betwene him and the boy 
and to record it in tke town booke." 

5 Boston Records, VII, 28. Record dated 30:8:65. 



in Colonial New England and New York 25 

he was permitted to follow his calling or trade, 6 but "if 
any have bene unfaithful negligent, or unprofitable in their 
service, notwithstanding the good usage of their maisters, 
they shall not be dismissed till they have made satisfaction 
according to the Judgment of Authoritie." 7 The town in- 
sisted upon its artisans serving a successful apprenticeship 
before setting up in their respective trades. 

The term of service, in accordance with the custom and 
law of the mother-country, must not be completed until the 
apprentice had arrived at the age of twenty-one, and had 
served at least seven years. Girl-apprentices were re- 
quired to serve until eighteen years of age, or until they 
were married. 8 As in England, seven years constituted 
the prescribed term, and, although colonial legislation had 
not yet touched on the matter, most of the records indicate 
that this regulation was observed. 9 The seven-year term is 
mentioned in the records of the earliest settlers of Boston: 
from the minutes of "a Court holden att Boston, July 26th, 
1631," we learn that "Lucy Smith is bound an apprentice 
with Roger Ludlow for 7 yeares." 10 It is not unusual, 
however, to find instances in which this requirement was 
violated. Terms as short as four, five, and six years appear 

6 Boston Records, II, 137. "At a meting . . . 2Qth of 4th 1657. John Clow 
having served an Apprenticeship hath Liberty to follow his Calling in this Town." 

7 Old South Leaflets, Vol. 7, No. 164. The Liberties of the Massachusetts 
Collonie in New England, Dec. 1641. 

8 The English custom required that girls serve until twenty years of age. An 
instance in which this requirement was observed occurs in the minutes of "a 
Court, holden att Newe Towne, March 3, 1634," at which a girl is apprenticed 
"till she attaine the age of twenty yeares." (Records of the Governor and Colony 
of Mass. Bay in New England, Vol. I, 134) A Salem town meeting of 1648, 
however, ordered "the mayde" to be apprenticed "till the age of 18 years." (Felt, 
Annals of Salem, II, 397) Later " 18 years of age" is the limit established by law. 
(New Plymouth, 1671, Mass. Bay, 1692, et seq.) 

9 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 12, 15, 16, 23, 29, 31, 35, 36, 37, 43, 46, 82, 
no, 128. Records for the years 1633-45, containing terms of 7 years or above. 

Lechford, 151, 153, 175, 251, 362, 437. Records for 1638-41. 

Felt, Annals of Salem, II, 396. Date 1644. 

Records and Files, I, 113, 132, 163, 201, 231; II, 295, 311; III, 117, 309; IV, 54. 
Records of 1647-66. 

10 Mass. Bay Records, I, 90. 



26 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

occasionally in the records of Massachusetts Bay and New 
Plymouth. 11 But the colonists soon realized that if this 
practice were allowed to continue, the cardinal principle of 
apprenticeship — the training of skilled artisans — would 
be perverted. New legislation was necessary, therefore, to 
reemphasize and enforce this aspect of the English practice. 
In 1660 Boston passed the following very definitive law regu- 
lating the term of apprenticeship: 

20th, 6th mo., 1660. Att a Towne's meeting . . . 

Whereas itt is found by sad experience that youthes of this town, 
beinge put forth Apprentices to severall manufactures and sciences, but 
for 3 or 4 yeares time, contrary to the Customes of all well governed 
places, whence they are uncapable of being Artists in their trades, beside 
their unmeetness att the expiration of their Apprenticeship to take 
charge of others for government and manuall instruction in their occupa- 
tions which, if not timely amended, threatens the welfare of this Town. 

It is therefore ordered that no person shall henceforth open a shop 
in this Town, nor occupy any manufacture or science, till hee hath com- 
pleated 21 years of age, nor except hee hath served seven yeares Appren- 
ticeship, by testimony under the hands of sufficient witnesses. And 
that all Indentures made between any master and servant shall bee 
brought in and enrolled in the Towne's Records within one month after 
the contract made, on penalty of ten shillings be paid by the master 
att the time of the Apprentices being made free. 12 

All subsequent apprenticeship legislation repeats the seven- 
year requirement, and the records show that it was generally 
complied with, 13 "7 yeares seruice being so much as ye 

11 Mass. Bay Records, 198-99. 
Lechford, 162, 203, 235, 363. 

Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 15-16, 24, 64, no. 

12 Boston Records, II, 157. 

Boston Records, VII, 39. "24:12:1667: Where as James Hull hath sett up 
the trade of Cooper, Haueing not serued aprentiship according to Towne order, is 
forbidden to occupye the said trade; as to keping open shop, one the forfeiture of 
10s p. month." 

13 Boston Records, VII, 6, 37. Dates 1661, 1667. 

York Deeds, Book I, Folio 115; Book II, Folios 62, 129, 141; Book III, Folios 
12, 73. Dates 1661-79. 

New Hampshire Hist. Soc. Coll., VIII, 287. Date 1676. 
Sewall's Diary, I, 345. Date 1691. 



in Colonial New England and New York 27 

practice of old England, & thought meet in this place." 14 
An interesting instance of enforcement of the 1660 law 
reveals the colonial attitude toward exemptions from the 
apprenticeship requirement. 

24: 12: 1667. Att a meeting of Mr. Petter Oliuer, Hezekiah Usher, 
Capt. James Oliuer, Capt. Th. Lake, Joshua Scottow, Edward Rance- 
ford, & John Hull. 

Upon complaint by the Coopers that John Farnum Senior, doth im- 
ploy his sonne in order to the setting up the trade of a Cooper without 
serueing 7 yeares apprentize to the said trade, contrary to a Town order, 
The Selectmen haue forbidden John Farnum Senior, to permitt his sonne 
to sett up the trade of a Cooper, Unless he serue the prentiship of 7 yeares 
one penalty of 10s p. month. 15 

It is probable that John Farnum senior had assumed that 
the early custom was still recognised of admitting sons into 
the craft without apprenticeship. But this practice was not 
continued; the "Town order" mentioned emphatically for- 
bade anyone to engage in trade " except hee hath served 
seven yeares Apprenticeship." This principle obtained not 
only in the Massachusetts Bay colony, but it was operative 
in all the American colonies. 

There were no craft organisations as such in the colonies, 
but occasionally those engaged in a particular trade came 
together for the purpose of defining methods of procedure 
which would benefit all artisans. In the case quoted in 
the preceding paragraph the coopers came before the town 
officials to demand the enforcement of a regulation which 
protected their reputation for skilled workmanship. Town 
and colony authorities took care of all matters pertaining 
to trade regulation. 

To understand the relationship that existed between master 
and apprentice it is necessary to examine the indenture. 
The earliest references to apprenticeship in the New Plymouth 

New England Hist, and Geneal. Register, Vol. 34, 311; Vol. 2>2>y T 8. Dates 
1747, 1751. 

Hist. Coll. Essex Institute, II, 86. Date 1757. 

14 Records and Files, II, 295. Salem, June 25, 1661. 

15 Boston Records, VII, 39. 



28 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

and Massachusetts Bay colonies are contained in court 
records, and are, therefore, abbreviated. Hence, they are 
not complete enough for our purposes. Two such records 
will suffice to show the type. 

A Court, holden att Boston, July 3, 1632. 

John Smith is bound apprentice to Mr. John Wilson for five yeares 
from this court, dureing wch tearme Mr. Wilson is to finde the said John 
Smyth meate, drinke, and appel. 16 

From this we learn only that the apprentice was bound for 
five years, and that the master was to provide " meate, 
drinke, and appel." Additional information concerning the 
mutual obligations of master and apprentice is given in the 
record of "A General! Court" of New Plymouth, held Jan. 
6, 1633: 

Sam Jenny the sonne of John Jenny, by the consent of the said John, 
hat bound himselfe apprentise to Kanelm Wynslow, of Plymouth, joyner 
for the full terme of fowr yeares, during wch time the said Samuel shall 
doe faithful service, as becometh an apprentise, to the said Kanelm. 
Also the said Kanelm shall . . . doe his best to instruct him in his trade, 
and at the end of his tyme shall dowble appel the said Samuel. 17 

Here the apprentice promised to "doe faithful service," and 
the master agreed to "doe his best to instruct him in his 
trade," and give him double apparel at the end of his 
service. 

I was unable to secure a complete Massachusetts Bay 
indenture of an earlier date than 1676. The following 
covenant of the district of New Hampshire completes the 
more or less fragmentary description given by the records 
quoted above, and presents a detailed account of the re- 
lationship under consideration: 

16 Mass. Bay Records, I, 98. 
Ibid., I, 90, 99, 134. 

17 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 24. 

Ibid., I, 15. July 23, 1633: "the trade of carpentry, wherein the said Richard 
sufficiently to instruct and teach him." 

Ibid., I, 16. Aug. 15, 1633: "the said William promising to instruct and teach 
him the said trade of nayling, & at the end of his time to giue him onely two sutes 
of apparell." 



in Colonial New England and New York 29 

This Indenture witnesseth that I, Nathan Knight, sometime of Black 
point, with the consent of my father-in-law, Harry Brooken, and Elend. 
his wife, have put myself apprentice to Samuel Whidden, of Portsmouth, 
in the county of Portsmouth, mason, and bound after the manner of an 
apprentice with him, to serve and abide the full space and term of twelve 
years and five months, thence next following, to be full, complete and 
ended; during which time the said apprentice his said master faithfully 
shall serve, his lawful secrets shall keep, and commands shall gladly do, 
damage unto his said master he shall not do, nor see to be done of others, 
but to the best of his power shall give timely notice thereof to his said 
master. Fornication he shall not commit, nor contract matrimony 
within the said time. The goods of his said master, he shall not spend 
or lend. He shall not play cards, or dice, or any other unlawful game, 
whereby his said master may have damage in his own goods, or others, 
taverns, he shall not haunt, nor from his master's business absent him- 
self by day or by night, but in all things shall behave himself as a faithful 
apprentice ought to do. And the said master his said apprentice shall 
teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and instructed in the art and 
mystery as mason; finding unto his said apprentice during the said time 
meat, drink, washing, lodging, and apparel, fitting an apprentice teach- 
ing him to read, and allowing him three months towards the latter end 
of his time to go to school to write, as also double apparel at end of said 
time. As witness our hands and seals, interchangeably put to two in- 
struments of the same purpose, November the twenty fifth, one thou- 
sand six hundred and seventy-six. 18 

It is evident that the phraseology and content were borrowed 
from the earliest English indentures. The same obligations 
are laid upon each party to the contract. The apprentice 
bound himself "to serve and abide" with the master for a 
certain term, in this case twelve years and five months — ■ 
presumably until he was twenty-one years of age. Further, 
he promised to serve " faithfully , " keep his master's "lawful 
secrets," obey his commands, protect him from "damage 
. . . done of others," and observe proper moral conduct. 
In return, the master bound himself to provide mainte- 
nance, teach the apprentice his trade, and give him double 
apparel at the end of the term. In addition, in this in- 
stance, the master promised to teach the boy to read. 

18 New Hampshire Hist. Soc. Coll. Province Records, 1680-92, Vol. VIII, 287. 



30 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

This aspect of the master's obligation was not required by 
law until 1642, and will be considered in a later paragraph. 

From the time of the earliest settlements in New England 
it had been the custom for the master to give his apprentice 
two suits of clothes at the completion of the period of service. 
Most of the earlier records of Massachusetts and New 
Plymouth mention this provision. 19 In 1641, the " Liberties 
of the Massachusetts Collonie in New England," required 
that " Servants that have served diligentlie and faithfully 
to the benefit of their maisters seaven yeares, shall not be 
sent away emptie. },2 ° 

If either party to the contract violated his agreement, he 
was punished by the town authorities. Masters were per- 
mitted to chastise unruly apprentices, but the town usually 
dealt with such cases in the following manner: "At a Com- 
mission Court according to Order Jan'y 18, 1653," Alexander 
Maxwell, an apprentice, was ordered to be "publicly whipped 
for abusing his master." 21 This instance is typical of town 
action in regard to the punishment of apprentices who broke 
their covenants. 22 It was by no means an uncommon thing 

19 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 31. New Plymouth, 1634: "at the end of the 
sayd terme the sayd Thomas is to cloth him with two sutes." 

Ibid., I, 35. New Plymouth, 1635: "2 suits." 

Ibid., I, 45. New Plymouth, 1636: "at the expiracon of the said terme, he 
the said John, to giue him one compleate sute of appel, beside two other one for 
ordinary weare, & the other for the Sabbath." 

Ibid., I, no. New Plymouth, 1638: "in thend thereof to giue him double 
apparell throughout, in convenyent manner, with one suite for Lords dayes, and 
another for workeing dayes." 

Lechford, 151, 162. Boston, 1639. 

20 Old South Leaflets, Vol. 7, No. 164. 

21 Coll. Maine Hist. Soc, Vol., I, 276. 

Records and Files, I, 20. "Court held at Salem, 29: 7: 1640. John Cooke, 
servant to Mr. Wm. Clark of Salem, to be severely whipped and have a shackle 
put upon his leg for resisting his master's authority." 

Ibid., I, 356. Salem, 27: 4: 1654. 

22 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 15. "Things done by the Govr & Cowncell 
betweene July the 1 & October. July 23, 1635; Will Mendlue, the servt of Will 
Palmer, whipped for attempting uncleanes with the maid servt of the said Palmer, 
& for running away from his master being forcibly brought againe by Penwatechet 
a Manomet Indian." 



in Colonial New England and New York 31 

for an apprentice to " absent himself from his master's 
service," or in other words, to run away. In this event the 
master advertised his loss, giving a description of the ap- 
prentice, and offering a reward. 23 If apprehended, and 
brought back, the runaway was obliged to serve a longer 
time than he had bargained for in the indenture. 24 In some 

Ibid., XI, 47. June 4, 1645. "Servant or apprentice . . . that shall steale .... 
his Masters goods shall make double restitucon either by payment or servitude 
... for the first default, and for . . . second default . . . make double restitucon 
and either fynd sureties for his good bahauior or be whipt." 

Ibid., XI, 96. 1655: "It is enacted that . . . servants or children that shall 
play att Cards or dice for the first offence to bee corrected att the discretion of 
theire parents or masters and for the 2cond offence to bee publickly whipt." 

Records and Files, I, 62. "Court held at Salem, 9:5:1644: John Burridg, a 
boy apprenticed to Jno Porter ... to be whipped severely," for stealing from his 
master. 

Ibid., 1, 18, 27, 62, 91, 100, 285. 

^Herald of Freedom, Boston, Tuesday, May 21, 1791. "Run away from the 
Subscriber in Boston, on the first instant Mathias Fanning an apprentice young 
man, about nineteen years of age .... 6 pence reward. John Magner." 

Thomas's Massachusetts Spy or Worcester Gazette, Worcester, Wed., Jan. 4, 
1797. "Two Pence Half Penny Reward: Ran away from the subscriber, on the 
15th of this month Simon Remington, an indented lad, 16 years of age, about 
five feet eight inches high, slender built, dark brown hair; had on when he went 
away a cinnamon coloured coat, Jane waistcoat and overalls, and a round hat. 
Who ever will take up the said runaway, and return him to his master shall re- 
ceive the above reward, but no charges paid. All persons are forbid employing 
or harbouring said runaway, as they wish to avoid the rigour of the law, Petersham, 
Dec. 26, 1796. Signed Joseph Brown." 

Ibid., Wed., Jan. 18, 1797; Wed., Feb. 21, 1798; Wed., Feb. 28, 1798. 

24 Acts and Resolves of Mass. Bay, I, 192. "An Act for Preventing of Men's 
Sons and Servants Absenting themselves from their Parents or Masters Service 
without Leave," passed Mar. 14, 1694. Masters of vessels are forbidden to de- 
tain any minor or apprentice on penalty of five pounds per week. "Every Ap- 
prentice or covenant servant who shall unlawfully absent himself from his master 
and enter himself on any ship or vessel as aforesaid, with intent to leave his mas- 
ter's service, or continue there more than the space of twenty-four hours, and be 
thereof convicted before their majesties' justices in general sessions of the peace 
within the same county, shall forfeit unto his master such further service, from and 
after the expiration of the term which his said master had in him at the time of 
his departure, as the said court shall order, not exceeding one year." 

Ibid., IV, 179. An Act of 1758. "If any apprentice or servant shall elope 
or desert the service to which he or she is or shall be bound, and damage accrue 
thereby to the master or mistress of such servants, it shall be lawful for the justices 
of the court of sessions upon application made to them, to order satisfaction to 



32 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

cases provision for this was made in the contract. 25 A fine 
was imposed upon persons convicted of "enticing away," 
and "harboring" apprentices. 26 

Masters who maltreated their apprentices or who neg- 
lected to provide adequate maintenance, and trade in- 
struction, were fined by the town, and their apprentices 
were taken away and bound to other masters. The early 
colonists enacted no legislation on this subject; the English 
custom seems to have prevailed. Later, in 1642, the Select- 
men were instructed to inquire into the usage of apprentices, 
and "make return" or report to the town meeting. 27 The 
town then determined upon the action to be taken. Poor- 
apprentices were protected by a Massachusetts Bay Act of 
1703 which required that "the selectmen or overseers of the 
poor shall inquire into the usage of children bound out by 
themselves or their predecessors and endeavor to defend them 
from any wrongs or injuries." 28 A general statute of 1758 
applying to all apprentices made it "lawful for the courts 

be made by such servant or apprentice, either by service or otherwise, as to them 
shall seem meet." 

Records and Files, I, 286. "Court held at Salem, 30:4:1653. John Robin- 
son servant to Tho. Putnam, to be whipped, and to serve his master one year 
longer than his agreement, for frequently running away from his master." 

25 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 129. A Court of Assistants, Aug. 13, 1639: 
"if the said Simon do happen to dept his masters service without licence by running 
away, the said Simon do pmise to serve the sd Thomas two yeares ouer and aboue 
his terme euery tyme hee shall so runn away before the expiracon of the said 
terme of seaven yeares." 

28 Records and Files, II, 275. " Court held at Ispwich, Mar. 26, 1661: William 
Buckley v. Thamar Quilter. For harboring and withholding his apprentice from 
him. Verdict for plaintiff, the boy to be returned." 

Ibid., II, 403. "Court held at Salem, June 24, 1662: Thomas Chandler v. 
Job Tyler. For taking away his apprentice Hope Tyler, and detaining him out 
of his service. Verdict for plaintiff, the boy to be returned." 

Acts and Resolves of Mass. Bay, II, 119. Act of Nov. 15, 1716. Masters of 
vessels who unlawfully carry away apprentices "shall forfeit the sum of £50." 

27 Records of the Gov. and Col. of Mass. Bay in New England, II, 6. 
Records and Files, I, 69. "Court held at Salem, 27:6:1644: Hugh Laskm 

and his wife fined 40s for hard usage of his late servant in victuals and clothes 
. . . the bed and clothing were not as should be. . . . One time the boy did not 
eat until n o'clock . Goodman Balch said the boy was growing thin." 

28 Acts and Resolves, Mass. Bay, I, 538. 



in Colonial New England and New York 33 

of general sessions of the peace for the respective counties, 
upon complaint or representation made by the overseers of 
the poor or selectmen of any town in such county . . . where 
any indented, bought or legally bound servant or apprentice 
have been abused or evil treated by their masters or mis- 
tresses" to fine such masters or mistresses five pounds, and 
take away their apprentices and bind them to other masters. 29 
With the consent of the apprentice the master might sell 
some years of his service. 30 The apprentice then served the 
remainder of his term with the new master, who either agreed 
to observe the terms of the original indenture, or persuaded 
the boy to enter into a new covenant. Such sales, or as- 
signments, were always registered in the town records. In the 
event of the master's death before the completion of the term, 
the apprentice usually served out his term with the heir. 31 

29 Acts and Resolves, Mass. Bay, IV, 179. 

30 Recs. Col. New Plymouth, I, 132. Sept. 25, 1639: "Mr. Henry Feake of 
Sandwich, wth and by the consent of Edmund Edwards, his servant hath assigned 
and made over unto John Barnes, of Plymouth, all the residue of the terme wch 
by indenture the said Edmond is to serve the sd Mr. Feake to serue it forth wth 
the said John Barnes, the said John Barnes fynding unto the said Edmond, meate, 
drinke, lodging & washing, during the terme." 

Ibid., I, 158. July 28, 1640: "John Winslow, for and in consideracon of the 
sum of twelue pounds sterl hath bargained and sould all his interest in the service 
of Joseph Grosse." 

Ibid., I, 15, 16, 65, 102, 107, 129. Dates 1633-40. 

Lechford, 151. Boston, 8.6.1639: "Christopher Stanley for £10, 10s As- 
signes the boy, and all writings concerning him, Richard Bayly, to be bound 
to Isaake Cullimore of Boston in N. E. Carpenter, his apprentice, to serve him 
from 24.4. ult. for 7 yeares . . . meate, drinke, & clothes, & Double apparell when 
he goes forth." 

Ibid., 101 (1639), 255 (1640). 

Records and Files, I, 187. "Court held at Ispwich, 26:1:1650. Thomas 
Varnye son of Willm. Varnye, being bound unto Willm. Bartholomew of Ipswich, 
for fourteen years is now assigned to Mr. Henry Bartholomew of Salem." 

Ibid., I, 250. Ipswich, Mar. 30, 1652; II, 132. Salem, Nov. 9, 1658. 

Boston News Letter, April 15, 1714; Ibid., April 25, 1715; Boston Evening 
Post, March 9, 1747, advertise the sale of apprentices' terms. 

31 Records and Files, I, 254. Will dated 30:1:1652: "I giue unto my son in 
la we all my right and interest in Thomas Varney my apprentice." 

York Records, Book III, Folio 42. An agreement, dated Dec. 9, 1678, between 
Nicholas Hodgsden and his son mentions an apprentice who is to serve out his 
term with the son if the father dies. 



34 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Indentures were bequeathed as a matter of course, with other 
property. 

The apprenticing of poor-children in the earliest days of 
the Massachusetts Bay Colony was regulated by the Poor 
Law of 1 60 1. The children of poor parents were taken away 
by the town, and placed with masters who would provide 
adequate maintenance. A Salem town order of 1648 indi- 
cates the method of procedure: "It is ordered that the 
eldest children of Reuben Guppy be placed out, the boy 
till the age of 21 years and the mayd till the age of 18 
years." 32 In such cases the Selectmen became parties to 
the contract, and the form of indenture was changed to in- 
clude their names. Such an indenture, of the following 
century, shows this modification: 

This indenture made the fourteenth day of September Anno Domo 
1747 by and between Luke Lincoln, Benj. Tuckor, Nathall Goodspeed, 
& John Whittemor all of Leicester in the county of Worcester selectmen 
of sd Leicester on the one part, Matthew Scott of Leicester aforesaid 
yeoman on the other part Witnesseth that the above sd selectmen by 
virtue of the Law of this province them Impowering & with the assent 
of two of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for sd county hereto annexed 
do put and bind out to the sd Matthew Scott & to his Heirs Executors 
& Adminrs as an Apprentice Moses Love a Minor aged two years and 
Eight months with him & them to live & dwell with as an apprentice 
dureing the term of Eighteen years & four months (Viz) untill he shall 
arrive to the age of twenty-one years ... he being a poor child & his 
parents not being able to support it . . . sd apprentice . . . shall . . . serve 
at such Lawful employment ... as he shall from time to time ... be 
capable of doing ... & not absent himself from his or their service with- 
out Leave & in allthings behaue himself as a good & faithfull apprentice 
ought to do. 33 

It will be noted that the form observes the English require- 
ment of securing the consent of two justices of the peace. 

So far we have considered the general practice of ap- 
prenticeship as it existed in New Plymouth and Massa- 
chusetts Bay prior to the legislation which changed it from 

32 Felt, Annals of Salem, II, 397. 

33 New England Hist, and Geneal. Register, Vol. 34, 311. 



in Colonial New England and New York 35 

an English practice to one peculiarly American. As we have 
noted, from our examination of the records, the essential 
characteristics of the apprenticeship system were reproduced 
from the custom of the mother-country. But with the ap- 
pearance of new colonial legislation important additions were 
made. The scope of apprenticeship was broadened to such 
an extent that it became a new institution. 



CHAPTER III 

THE EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE PRACTICE 
OF APPRENTICESHIP IN THE NEW PLYMOUTH 
AND MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONIES 

Perhaps the earliest legislation concerning apprenticeship 
in the New England colonies is to be found in an Act of 
the General Court of the Colony of New Plymouth, dated 
Sept. 7, 1 641. In this Act, "It is enacted That those that 
have releefe from the townes and have children, and doe not 
ymploy them, That then it shall be lawfull for the Towne- 
ship to take order that those children shall be put to worke 
in fitting ymployment according to their strength and abili- 
ties or placed out by the Townes." 1 It clearly recognised 
the principle established by the English Poor Law of 1601, 
that the care of poor-children was a public responsibility. 
The town met this responsibility by delegating the Select- 
men to "place out," or apprentice the children of poor parents 
"into families where they may be better brought up and pro- 
vided for." 2 This care included not only the maintenance 
but also the education of the apprentices. In fact all children 
whose education had been neglected were provided for by 
poor and apprenticeship legislation. 

1 The Compact with the Charter and Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth, 
70. This law was reenacted in 1658 (Recs. Col. New Plymouth, XI, 120). 

Records of the Town of New Plymouth, I, 12. "At a Townes meeting holden 
at Plymouth the Xiiiith of January, 1642. Concerning the placeing and dispos- 
ing of ffrancis Billingtons children according to the Act and order of the Court, 
It is ordered and agreed upon that John Cooke . . . shall have Joseph until hee 
shalbe of the age of twenty one years . . . that his eldest Boy shalbe with John 
Winslaw . . . until . . . age of XXI years . . . that Gyles Rickett shall take ... a 
girle . . . untill she shall accomplish the age of twenty years or be married. . . . That 
Gabriell ffallowell shall have another ... a girle . . . untill . . . age of twenty yeares 
or be marryed." 

2 Compact, 274. Law passed June, 1671. 



in Colonial New England and New York 37 

The emphasis upon education appears very clearly in a 
New Plymouth Order dated June, 1671: 

It is ordered that the Deputies and Selectmen of every Town shall 
have a vigilant eye from time to time over their Brethren and Neigh- 
bours, to see that all Parents and Masters do duely Endeavor, to teach 
their children and servants as they grow capable, so much learning as 
through the blessing of God they may attain, at least to be able to read the 
Scriptures, and other profitable Books printed in the English Tongue and 
the knowledge of the capital Laws etc. . . . And further that all Parents and 
Masters do breed and bring up their children and apprentices in some 
honest lawful calling, labour or employment. . . . That a fine of 10 shil- 
lings shall be levied on the goods of negligent Parents and Masters. 

And if three months after that, there be no due care taken and con- 
tinued, for the Education of such children and apprentices as aforesaid, 
then a fine of 20 shillings shall be levied on such Delinquent's Goods to 
the Town's use. 

And lastly, if in three months after that, there be no due Reforma- 
tion of the said neglect, then the said Selectmen with the help of two 
Magistrates, shall take such children and servants from them and place 
them with some Masters for years (boyes till they come to twenty-one, 
and girls eightteen years of age) which will more strictly educate and 
govern them according to the rules of this Order. 3 

At an earlier date, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed 
a similar but more comprehensive law, which applied to all 
districts or plantations in the colony: 

At a General Court of Elections held at Boston, on June 14, 1642. 

This court taking into consideration the great neglect in many parents 
and masters in training up their children in labor and learning and other 
employments which may be profitable to the Commonwealth, do here- 
upon order and decree that in every town the chosen men appointed 
for managing the prudential affairs of the same shall henceforth stand 
charged with the care and redress of this evil, so they shall be liable 
to be punished and fined for the neglect thereof upon any presentment of 
the grand jurors or other information or complaint in any plantation in 
this jurisdiction; and for this end they or the greater part of them, 
shall have power to take account from time to time of their parents and 
masters of their children concerning their calling and employment of 
their children, especially their ability to read and understand the prin- 
ciples of religion and the capital laws of the country, and to impose 

3 Compact, 271. 



38 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

fines upon all those who refuse to render such accounts to them when 
required; and they shall have power, with the consent of any court or 
any magistrate to put forth apprentices the children of such as shall not be 
able and fit to employ and bring them up, nor shall take care to dispose of 
them themselves; and they are to take care that such as are set to keep 
cattle be set to some other employment withal as spinning upon the rock, 
knitting, weaving tape, etc; and that boys and girls be not allowed to 
converse together so as to occasion any wanton, dishonest or immodest 
behavior. And for their better performance of this trust committed to 
them they may divide the town amongst them, appointing to every 
of the said townmen a certain number of families to have oversight of. 4 

Our Puritan forefathers were familiar with the English 
practice as established by the laws of 1562 and 1601, and 
recognised its shortcomings. The Statute of Artificers pro- 
vided for the industrial training of youth, but did not take 
into consideration the need of even the rudiments of education 
for the lower classes. The Poor Law of 1601 made no pre- 
tense of providing anything but a home for those bound out, 
and as a natural consequence thousands of Poor Law ap- 
prentices were exploited in " blind-alley " occupations. To 
protect their new commonwealth from the evils arising from 
such imperfect legislation, the Massachusetts Bay colonists in- 
sisted (1) that masters must teach, or "cause to be taught," 
their apprentices to read; and (2) that apprentices must be 
trained in " employments which may be profitable to the 
Commonwealth." 5 No useless occupations, such as minding 
cattle, were to be tolerated; apprenticeship was not a scheme 
of exploitation, but was essentially an educational institution. 

Before 1642 the English law obtained in the matter of regu- 
lating apprenticeship, but now apprenticeship was seen to 
possess new and broader possibilities of use. Not only was 
it viewed as a mode of poor-relief, and of keeping up the 
supply of skilled labor, but it was also considered a means 
of compelling the education of all youth. To include this 

4 Recs. of the Gov. and Col. of Mass. Bay in New England, II, 6. 

5 Mass. Bay Act of 1642. Compare the New Plymouth Order of 1671: "that 
all Parents and Masters do breed and bring up their children and apprentices in 
some honest lawful calling, labour or employment." 

Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, I, 67. Mass. Bay Act of 1692. 



in Colonial New England and New York 39 

added feature new legislation was necessary, the type of 
which is represented by the Massachusetts Bay Order of 
1642, and the New Plymouth measure of 167 1. In these 
Orders the obligation was laid upon all parents, rich and poor, 
as well as masters, to teach their children to read. The 
Selectmen were required to visit the homes of parents and 
masters, and ascertain if the children had been taught or 
were being taught. 6 Those who failed to comply with the 

6 In 1642 Cambridge divided its territory among the Selectmen so that one 
would be responsible for each portion in carrying out the Order of the General 
Court (Cambridge Records, 47). In 1670 the Selectmen issued an order dividing 
the town into eight districts, and assigning two persons to each district "for the 
Cattichising the youth of the towne." {Ibid., 188) 

Hazen, History of Billerica, 252. Billerica, 1661: "the townsmen do agree 
that Lieut. Will French and Ralph Hill, senior, do take care and examine the 
several families in our town whether their children and servants are taught in the 
precepts of religion in reading and learning their catechism." 

Ibid., 252. The Selectmen "appoint the next second day to go the rounds to 
examine the teaching of children and youth according to the law." 

Watertown Records, I, 204. " Jenvry the 3d 1670. At a meeting of the select 
men at the house of Isaake Sterns: It was further agreed that the select men should 
goe thrugh the town in their ceueral quarters to make tryall whether children and 
servants be educated in Learneing to read the English tongue and in the Know- 
ledg of the capitall Laws according to the Law of the Country also that they may 
be educated in sum orthadox Catacise." 

Ibid., I, 114. Nov. 25, 1672: "Nathan fisk John whitney and Isaak mickstur 
meaking return of thear inquiry aftur childrens edduccation finde that John fisks 
chilldren ear naythur taught to read nor yet thear caticise." 

The Royal Colony of New Hampshire, whose early legislation borrowed much 
from the Mass. Bay laws, imposed a similar duty upon its Selectmen in an Act 
passed May 10, 17 10: "fforasmuch as Ignorance, ill Manners and Irreligion are 
propagated by many parents and Masters by Neglecting to Instruct Youth under 
their Care et: It shall be Lawfull for the Selectmen with a Justice of the Peace 
to examine all Youth of Tenn Years of Age whether they shall have been taught 
to Read and All those which cannot Read at Said Age to binde out to good Mas- 
ters who shall be Obleidged to Learn them to Read and write till they shall be of 
Age." (Laws of New Hampshire, II, 115) 

Sometimes the Selectmen delegated the duty of visiting and catechising to the 
ministers. Billerica, in 1675, records: "In reference to the catechising of the 
youth of the town and examining them concerning their reading, a duty imposed 
on the Selectmen by the Honorable Court, to take care that children and youth 
be instructed in both: the selectmen do order that all children and youth, single 
persons from eight years old and upward, their parents and masters shall send such 
children and servants to the Rev. Mr. Samuel Whiting, at such times as shall 
afterwards be appointed by him, to be examined of both, as hoping this might be 



40 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

law were first warned, and in case of continued neglect they 
were punished by a fine, or their children were taken away 
from them by the Selectmen, and bound out to " Masters 
for years (boyes till they come to twenty-one and girls 
eightteen years of age) which will more strictly educate and 
govern them." 7 In cases of neglect on the part of the well- 

a good expedient for the encouragement of all superiors and youth." (Hazen, 
History of Billerica, 252) In 1680 the Selectmen of Dorchester appointed "Elder 
Humphrey to Cattechiz the youth and Children." (Boston Records, IV, 255) 

7 New Plymouth Act of 167 1. 

A complaint of neglect and subsequent promise of reparation appear in Water- 
town, in 1 671: "At a meeting of the selectmen at Willyam Bond his house sept. 
2n: 167 1. Ther comeing a complaint of a child of Willyam Knop that haue ben 
neglected in being Learned in the English tongue we did apoint John Bigulah to 
warn in Thomas Smyth to the meeting of the selectmen also to warn willyam knop 
to the meeting." (Watertown Records, I, 107) 

Ibid., 109. "At a meeting of the selectmen at Thomas Fleg seni his house 
October 24th 167 1: Thomas Smyth a peereing before the selectmen a bought the 
Daughter of Willyam knop did acknowlidg that the child had not ben so well a 
tended in matter of Learneing as she should haue ben: did promise that he would 
be mor carfull for the time to come that she shall be Learned in the knowlidg of 
reading the english tongue." 

Boston Records, VII, 67. 25:1:1672, "At a meetinge (held in Boston) 
... It was ordered that notice be given to the seuerall psons vnder-written that 
they within one moneth after the date hereof dispose of theire seuerall Childrenn 
(herein nominated or mentioned) to serue by Indentures for some terme of yeares, 
according to their ages and capacities; wch if they refuse or neglect to doe the Mag- 
istrates and Selectmen will take theire said Children from them, and place them 
with such Masters as they shall prouide accordinge as the lawe directs. And that 
they doe accordinge to this ordr dispose of their Children doe make returne of the 
names of Mastrs & Children soe put out to seruice, with theire Indentures to the 
Selectmen at theire nexte monethly Meeting beinge the last Monday in Aprill 
next." List of names follows. 

Lancaster Records, 96. Lancaster, April 7, 1674: "The Court do commend it 
to the care of the selectmen of yt place dilligent to inspect his family and observe 
their manner for the future, and in case they find not an amendment in their 
charges whereof he hath been now convicted they are hereby ordered and im- 
powered to dispose of his sonne to service where he may be better taught & 
governed." 

Watertown Records, I, 102. "At a generall towne meeteing Nov. 7, 1670. 
Ordered that John Edy seir shall goe to John Fisk his house and to George Lorance 
and Willyam preist houseis to inquir a bought their Children wither they be Lerned 
to read the english tong and in case they be defective to warne in the said John 
George and Willyam to the next meeting of the selectmen." 

Ibid., I, 103. Dec. 13, 1670, "Willyam preist John Fisk and George Lorance 



in Colonial New England and New York 41 

to-do, or those who were capable of giving instruction, the 
law required that they be placed out "as when parents are 
indigent and rated as nothing to the public taxes." 8 Select- 
men, or "prudential men," who were delinquent in this duty 
"shall be liable to be punished and fined . . . upon any pre- 
sentment of the grand jurors or other information or com- 
plaint in any plantation in this jurisdiction." 9 

Naturally not all masters were capable of teaching their 
apprentices to read. The records give abundant evidence of 
the illiteracy of masters in general. Most of them were 
obliged to make marks in lieu of signatures to legal docu- 
ments, and most of them must have resorted to the Town 
Clerk or to a schoolmaster in order to have the simplest 
kind of communication composed and written. 10 But, ac- 
cording to the law, all children must be given this elementary 
education. Illiterate masters were obliged, therefore, to 
send their apprentices to persons who could teach them, 
which, in most cases, meant that they sent the apprentices 
to schools. Several elementary schools had already appeared 

being warned to a meeting of the select men at John Bigulah his house they make- 
ing their a peerance: and being found defecttiue weer admonished for not Learn- 
ing their Children to read the english toung: weer convinced did acknowledg 
their neglect and did promise a mendment." 

8 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, II, 756. "An Act for employ- 
ment and providing for the Poor of the Town of Boston," passed July 3, 1735. 

9 Mass. Bay Act of 1642. 

A presentment occurs in a Commission Court, held July 6, 1675, in Maine; 
"We present the Selectmen of the Town for not taking care that the children and 
youth of the Town be taught their Catechism and educated according to the 
Law." (Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., I, 285) 

"We present the Selectmen of the town of Kittery for not taking care that 
their children and youth be taught their catechism and educated according to 
the Law." "We present the Selectmen of Cape Porpus for not taking care that 
their children and youth of the town be taught their catechism and educated ac- 
cording to the law." "We present the Selectmen of Scarborough for not taking 
care that the children and youth of the town be taught and educated according to 
the Law." "We present the Selectmen of the town of Falmouth for not taking 
care that the children and youth of the town of Falmouth be taught their cate- 
chism and educated according to the law." (See Appendix B) 

10 Even if they secured the services of the Town Clerk they could not be sure 
of receiving a perfect piece of workmanship; the chirography of most of these 
worthies was barely legible, and the spelling was equally wretched. 



42 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

in the New Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and 
later, in 1647, the Massachusetts General Court "ordered 
that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord has 
increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall 
forthwith appoint one within their number to teach all such 
children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose 
wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such 
children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, 
as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the 
town shall appoint." u 

To enforce a law compelling universal education, the town 
was forced to assume the responsibility o£ providing the 
means. In order to relieve the town of expense, the Select- 
men, in binding out poor-children or the children of those 
who neglected to provide the instruction required by law, en- 
deavored to find masters who not only could furnish "meat, 
drink and lodging," but, in addition, could teach or afford to 
pay for tuition. 12 Failing in the latter the Selectmen made 
a bargain or agreement with the prospective master to take 
an apprentice for a certain sum of money to be paid out of 
the town rate. 13 This money was to be expended in main- 

11 Mass. Col. Recs., II, 203. 

Plymouth Colony Records, XI, 246. Plymouth, in a law passed 1677, made 
a similar provision. 

Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, I, 63. In 1693 Mass. Bay repeated 
the law of 1647. 

12 Dedham Records, IV, 203. Dated 20:11:1670. The Selectmen were in- 
structed to see "if it (the child) could be put out without charge." 

13 Dorchester Records, 306. Dated 1651. "It is agreed between the Select- 
men and be Tolman that hee shall take Henry lakes child to keepe it untill it com 
to 21 yeares of age &c and therefore to haue 26 pounds and to give security to the 
town and to teach it to read and wright and when it is capable if he lives the 
said br Tolman to teach it his trade." 

Watertown Records, I, 56. 

Dorchester Records, 165. Dated 1669. "the foresaid Selectmen doe in behalf 
of themselves for the time being and their successors on the behalf of the Town 
that ther shall be paid out of the towne Rate the Sum of Thirty pound Viz: ten 
pounds at the end of the feirst yeer after the date hereof whether the Child Hue 
or dy; and ten pound by the yeer for the next two yeers then the said Merefield 
shall haue but p'portionable of the pay according to the life of the Child." 

Watertown Records, I, 104. Jan. 17, 1670, Thomas Fleg and John Bigulah 



in Colonial New England and New York 43 

taining and educating the apprentice. If the apprentice 
died before completing his period of service, the master must 
remit part of the money according to a schedule agreed upon 
with the Selectmen: Dorchester, 165 1, " further agreed if 
it (the apprentice) dies within 2 months br Tolman (the 
master) is to returne 21 pounds if it die at one yeares end 
br. T. is to returne 18 pounds, etc." 14 

Another mode of providing education for all was that of 
abating " wholly or in part" for the poor the charges of in- 
struction. Where free schools had not yet appeared, all 
pupils must pay for tuition, and contribute toward the rate 
for the support of the town school. The poor, however, were 
taken care of by the town; the Selectmen, and later the 
Overseers of the Poor, were instructed to ascertain how much 
of the school rates and tuition charges certain people could 
afford to pay. Some were exempted entirely, and others were 
obliged to pay according to their means, — "the selectmen 
Being Judges of that matter." 15 

were instructed by the town "a bought puting out of a child to be an a prentice 
with Mr. Nuenson, and to drive a bargen a bought it if they can." 

Ibid., I, 107. Sept. 2, 1671: Thomas Fleg and John Bigulah "put out the 
oldist of the two of a matter of eight yeers of age to John Fleg as a prentice till 
she be of eighteen yeers of age the said John Fleg was to haue heer well pareled 
at her comeing to him and to haue for his incurigment fifty shillings to be paid 
by the town." 

Corey, History of Maiden, 402. 1745, "Voted that Edward Wayte shall have 
John Ramsdell who is about five years old till he come of age and said Wayt shall 
have thirty pounds old tenor with him in case said Waitt wil be obliged to learne 
the child to read, wright, and cypher and also to learne him the Shoemakers trade." 

14 Dorchester Records, 306. 1651. 

15 1686, Watertown. " Voated Allso that the Towne will paye for such Children 
as thear parents are not abell to pay for the select men Being Judges of that mat- 
ter." (Watertown Records, II, 28) 

1687, Brookline. "Voted that for the Annual maintainance of the School- 
master twelve pounds per annum in or as money be Raised equally by a Rate 
accordinge to the usual manner of Raising publick charges by the three men And 
that the Remainder necessary to support the charge of the Master be laid equally 
on the scholars heads save any persons that are poor to be abated wholly or in part" 
(Muddy River and Brookline Records, 86) 

1702, Braintree. "Provided that any poor person in this Town who shall 
send any children to sd school & find themselves unable to pay upon application 



44 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

In addition to these means of making universal elementary 
education possible, many towns established free schools. 16 
These schools offered to all children without cost the rudi- 
ment required by law. Some, in answer to the growing de- 
mand for a more complete education, taught reading, writing, 
and cyphering. Town action on this matter was supple- 
mented in many instances by bequests from charitable in- 
dividuals for the purpose of establishing free schools. 

An elementary education limited to reading, the " prin- 
ciples of religion," and "the capital laws of the country," 
could not long satisfy the needs of a growing colony. Soon 
there appeared a demand for the addition of writing and 
cyphering, or " casting accounts." We find many records 
which show how the need of these practical subjects was met: 



to the Select men it shall be in their power to remit a part or ye whole of ye sum." 
(Braintree Records, 51) 

1703, Boston. "Ordered that a vote be prepared to empower Overseers to 
advance of ye Town Stock towards teaching the Children to read of such parents 
who are extreamly poor." (Boston Records, XI, 33) 

1705, Plymouth. "The Children of such as through poverty are rendered 
oncapable to pay theire Children to goe to school free." (Recs. of the Town of 
Plymouth, II, 2) 

1707, Springfield, "agreed that sd Selectmen do exempt their Parents & Mas- 
ters (of poor children) from paying for such children going to school In whole or 
in part." (First Century of the History of Springfield, II, 74) 

16 Watertown, 1670. (Watertown Records, I, 102) 

Boston, 1679. "Afree school to teach the children of poore people." (Boston 
Records, VII, 127) 

Boston, 1682. "The same day it was voted by ye inhabitants yt the same 
Com it tee with ye Select men consider of & pvide one or more Free Schooles for 
the teachinge Children to write and Cypher within this towne." (Boston Re- 
cords, VII, 157) 

Boston, 1690. "Ordered that Mr. John Cole be allowed to keep a free school 
for reading and writing and that ye selectmen agree with him for his salary." 
(Boston Records, VII, 200) 

Brookline, 1700. "It was voted that the Selectmen should provide a School- 
master for them, To teach their children to read, write & cypher & order his pay 
out of the Town Treasury." (Muddy River and Brookline Records, 63) 

Maiden, 1701. "The school is to be free for all ye inhabitants of ye town." 
(Corey, History of Maiden, 602) 

Duxbury, 1741. "The school shall be a free school for the whole town." (Dux- 
bury Records, 270) 



in Colonial New England and New York 45 

in 1 65 1, a master of Dorchester agrees with the Selectmen to 
teach his apprentice "to read and wright"; 17 on April 2, 
1667, Boston gives "Mr. Will Howard liberty to keep a 
wrighting schoole, to teach childeren to writte and keep ac- 
counts"; 18 a York, Maine, indenture, dated Sept. 16, 1674, 
witnesses the covenant of a master to teach his apprentice 
"to write & siffer"; 19 in a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
indenture, dated Nov. 25, 1676, the master promises to teach 
his apprentice to "read, and allowing him three months 
toward the latter end of his time to go to school to write"; 20 
on Mar. 27, 1677, one Joseph Underwood of Watertown 
promises the Selectmen to teach his apprentice "to read and 
wright and sum authortox cattacise." 21 Parents and Select- 
men, in binding out children, were everywhere demanding 
that masters provide instruction in reading, writing, and 
cyphering, and these subjects soon came to constitute the 
customary elementary curriculum. 

The evidence exhibited in the preceding paragraph pre- 
sents the answers to a felt demand for a more comprehensive 
training than colony or town action had yet stipulated. 
But, although there existed a fairly widespread recognition 
of this need, not all children shared equally in the distribu- 
tion of this more complete tuition. Many masters still gave 

17 Dorchester Records, 165. 

18 Boston Records, VII, 36. 

Recs. of the Town of Plymouth, I, 270. "At a Town Meeting held at plimouth 
July 31, 1699 voted that the selectmen should take care to provide A scoole 
Master ... & that Every Schollar that Corns to wrigh or syfer or to learn latten 
shall pay 3 pence pr weke if to Read only then to pay 3 half pence per weke to be 
paid by their Masters or parents." 

19 York Deeds, Book II, Folio 159. 

Ibid., Bk. II, Folio 129. Indenture dated April 4, 1672. Master covenants 
to teach his apprentice "to reade & writte." 

Ibid., Bk. Ill, Folio 12. Indenture dated Oct. 5, 1676. Master to teach his 
apprentice "to read and write." 

Ibid., Bk. Ill, Folio 73. Indenture dated March 4, 1679. Master to teach 
his apprentice "to write &c: read, Legably & audibly." 

20 New Hampshire Hist. Soc. Coll. Province Records, 1680-1692, Vol. VIII, 
287. 

21 Watertown Records, I, 129. 



46 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

their apprentices only the instruction demanded by the law 
of 1642. New legislation was needed, therefore, to establish 
uniformity of procedure in the matter, to compel all masters 
to furnish the three R's. Such action was forthcoming, 
however, and legislation enacted between the years 1703 
and 1 77 1 indicates the development of the educational 
requirement. 

On Nov. 16, 1692 the town of Boston passed "An Act for 
regulating Townships, choice of Town Officers and setting 
forth their power" which ordered the " overseers of the poor 
or selectmen where there are no other persons especially 
chosen and appointed to be overseers of the poor . . . with 
the assent of two justices of the peace, to bind any poor 
children belonging to such town to be apprentices where they 
shall see convenient, a man-child until he shall come to the 
age of twenty-one years, and a woman-child to the age of 
eighteen years, or time of marriage; which shall be as effective 
to all intents and purposes as if any such child were of full 
age and by indenture or covenant had bound him or her- 
self." 22 The education of these apprentices in reading at 
least was assured by the Act of 1642, but this, as we have 
seen, had been outgrown. Recognition of the need of writ- 
ing was made in a Poor Law of Nov. 27, 1703, which reads: 

An Act of Supplement to the Acts Referring to the Poor. 

Whereas the law for the binding out of poor children apprentices 
is misconstrued by some to extend only to such children whose parents 
receive alms; for explanation thereof, 

Be it declared and enacted by his Excellency the Governor, Council 
and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority 
of the same, 

That the selectmen or overseers of the poor in any town or district 
within this province, or the greater part of them, shall take order and 
are hereby impowered from time to time, by and with the assent of two 
justices of the peace, to set to work, or bind out apprentices as they shall 
think convenient, all such children whose parents shall by the select- 
men or overseers of the poor, or the greater part of them, be thought 
unable to maintain them (whither they receive alms, or are chargeable 

22 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, I, 67. 



in Colonial New England and New York 47 

to the place or not), so as they be not sessed to publick taxes or assess- 
ments for the province or town charges; male children till they come to 
the age of twenty-one years, and females till they come to the age of eigh- 
teen years, or time of marriage; which shall be as good and effectual in 
law to all intents and purposes as if any such child were of full age, and 
by indenture of covenant had bound him or herself, or that their parents 
were consenting thereto: provision therein to be made for the instructing 
of children so bound out, to read and write, if they be capable. And the 
selectmen or overseers of the poor shall inquire into the usage of children 
bound out by themselves or their predecessors and endeavor to defend 
them from any wrongs or injuries. 23 

The text of this Act clearly makes the same provision — 
"to read and write" — for both girl- and boy-apprentices, 
but it is evident that this was not intended, for "An Act for 
Explanation of and Supplement to the Act referring to the 
Poor," passed June 19, 1710, amended the stipulation to 
read: "males to read and write, females to read." 24 The 
Act of 1710 was repeated Nov. 16, 1720, 25 April 2, 1731, 26 
April 10, 1741, 27 and Aug. 8, 1741; the last supplementary 
Act, however, added to the earlier requirements "males to 
read, write and cypher, females to read." 28 Finally, on 
July 4, 1 77 1, "An Act in Addition to the several Acts or 
Laws of this Province Impowering the Selectmen or Over- 
seers of the Poor of Towns to bind poor children Apprentices," 
stated the general requirement in its most comprehensive 
form: "males, reading, writing, cyphering; females, reading, 
writing." 29 



23 Acts and Resolves of theProv. of Mass. Bay, I, 538. 

24 Ibid., I, 654. 

25 Ibid., II, 182. 

26 Ibid., II, 597. 
"Ibid., II, 1053. 

New England Hist, and Geneal. Register, Vol. 34, 311. Leiscester, Mass. 
indenture dated 1747 contains the master's covenant to teach apprentice "to 
read & write & siffer." 

28 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, II, 1067. 

29 Ibid., V, 161. 

Laws of Vermont (Windsor, 1825), 377. Act passed Mar. 3, 1797. Over- 
seers of the poor are to apprentice "poor children, males till they arrive at the age 



48 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

The educational provisions of the Act of 1642 were re- 
enforced and amplified by the Poor Laws just reviewed. 
While these laws were primarily intended to take care of poor 
children, they applied to all children just as the earlier law 
did. Children whose education had been neglected were 
treated as poor-children and bound out accordingly. This 
is stated very explicitly in a Poor Law enacted July 3, 1735: 

An Act for employing and providing for the Poor of the Town of 
Boston. 

And forasmuch as there is great negligence in sundry persons as to 
the instructing and educating their children, to the great scandal of the 
Christian name, and of dangerous consequence to the rising generation 
... be it enacted 

That where persons bring up their children in such gross ignorance 
that they do not know, or are not able to distinguish the alphabet of 
twenty-four letters, at the age of six years, in such case the overseers 
of the poor are hereby impowered and directed to put or bind out in good 
families such children, for a decent and Christian education, as when 
parents are indigent and rated nothing to the publick taxes, unless the chil- 
dren are judged incapable, through some inevitable infirmity. 30 

In 1758 Massachusetts Bay enacted a Poor Law which 
protected from abuse and neglect in the matter of education 
all apprentices who did not reside "within any town or dis- 
trict." Outlying districts came within the jurisdiction of 
the general colony legislation. 

It shall and may be lawful for the Courts of general sessions of the 
peace for the respective counties, upon complaint or representation 
made by the overseers of the poor or selectmen of any town in such county, 
or by the overseers appointed for the county, where any indented, bought, 
or . . . legally bound, servant or apprentice shall not be within any town 
or district, that any such servants or apprentices have been abused or 

of 21 years, and females till they arrive at the age of 18 years . . . males to be in- 
structed to read, and write, and females to read.'' 1 

Revised Statutes of Vermont, 1839, p. 345. "Overseers of the Poor may bind 
as apprentices or servants, the minor children of any poor person . . . females 
until the age of 18 years, and males untill the age of 21 years; and provision to 
be made in the contract for teaching such children to read, write and cypher." 

30 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay II, 756. Boston divided into 
12 wards, and an Overseer of the Poor appointed for each ward. 



in Colonial New England and New York 49 

evil treated by their masters or mistresses, or that the education of such 
children in reading or writing and cyphering, according to the tenor of their 
indentures, has been unreasonably neglected, to take cognizance of such 
representation or complaint, and if upon inquiry there shall appear to 
have been just cause therefor such master or mistress shall forfeit a sum 
not exceeding five pounds, for the use of the poor of the town or district 
where such master or mistress shall then be inhabitant . . . and the said 
court may order such child or children to be liberated or discharged from 
their masters or mistresses, and any male so discharged being under the 
age of twenty-one years, and any female under the age of eighteen years, 
may, by order of such court, be bound to other persons until they arrive to 
the age of twenty-one or eighteen years, respectively? 1 

The Massachusetts General Court Order of 1642 insisted 
not only upon parents and masters " training up their chil- 
dren in learning," but also in "labor." Idleness was strictly 
prohibited, 32 and parents and masters, in employing chil- 
dren, must select only those " employments which may be 
profitable to the Commonwealth." The Selectmen were 
directed to "take account from time to time of their par- 
ents and masters and of their children, concerning their 
calling and employment . . . and they are to take care 
that such {children) as are set to keep cattle be set to some 
other employment" in addition, "as spinning up on the 
rock, knitting, weaving tape, etc." In the preceding year, 
Sept. 7, 1641, a General Court held in the New Plymouth 
colony enacted that the children of "those that have releefe 
from the townes . . . shall be put to work in fitting imploy- 
ment according to their strength and abilities or placed out 
by the Townes." 33 This order was repeated in 1658, 34 and 
in 167 1 the New Plymouth General Court demanded that all 
"Parents and Masters do breed and bring up their children 
and apprentices in some honest lawful calling, labour or em- 

31 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, IV, 179. 

32 Recs. of the Col. of New Plymouth, I, 106. " Att a Generall Court held at 
New Plymouth the fourth Day of December 1638: John Wakefield psented for 
liueing out of service hath tyme giuen him to puide him a master." 

33 Compact, New Plymouth, 70. 

34 Recs. of the Col. of New Plymouth, 120. 



5P Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

ployment. ,,3 '° A more complete statement of this principle 
occurs in a Boston law of 1692, in which the Overseers of the 
Poor, or Selectmen were directed "to take care that all 
children, youth, and other persons of able body living within 
the town, or precincts thereof (not having estates otherwise to 
maintain themselves) do not live idly or mispend their time in 
loitering but that they be brought up or employed in some honest 
calling, which may be profitable to themselves and to the publick. ,,ZQ 

Evidently the colonists were determined not to repeat the 
experience of the mother-country with the problem of vaga- 
bondage. The statute books of most of the colonies are 
copiously punctuated with laws for the suppression of " vaga- 
bonds, idle and disorderly persons." 

Space will not permit the inclusion of the complete record of 
the practice of this legislation. A few examples read as follows: 

Salem, Mass., 1644: "Thomas Gooldsmith is to take a son of George 
Harris about 8 years old, as an apprentice for 1 2 years to teach him his 
trade." " 

Watertown, Mass., Jan. 3, 1656: John Baal agrees with the Select- 
men to teach his apprentice the trade of "weauing." 38 

Watertown, Mass., Mar. 3, 1670: "We (the Selectmen) haue there- 
fore a greed to put out two of his children in sum honist f amelleys wher 
they may be educated and brought up in the knowledge of God and sum 
honist calling." 39 

Leicester, Mass., Sept. 14, 1747: The Selectmen bind out a two year 
old boy who "shall serve at such Lawfull employment as he shall from 
time to time be capable of doing." 40 

Danvers, Mass., Feb. 14, 1757: Overseers of the Poor bind out a boy 
to Elisha Flint who promises to teach "ye said Ezra or cause him to be 
taught the Art, Trade or Mystery of a Wheelwright." 41 

Another important aspect of the law of 1642 was its em- 
phasis upon good conduct; the Selectmen were instructed to 

35 Compact, New Plymouth, 271. 

36 Acts and Resolves of the Prov. of Mass. Bay, I, 67. 

37 Felt, Annals of Salem, II, 396. 

38 Watertown Records, I, 50. 

39 Ibid., I, 105. 

40 New England Hist, and Geneal. Register, Vol. 34, 311. 

41 Hist. Coll. Essex Institute, II, 90. 



in Colonial New England and New York 51 

see "that boys and girls be not suffered to converse together, 
so as may occasion any wanton, dishonest or immodest be- 
havior." This was not alone an expression of Puritanism, 
it was also a reproduction of the English attitude in regard 
to the behavior of apprentices. English gild and municipal 
legislation of an early date insist upon proper conduct on 
the part of apprentices, and masters were held responsible. 
Early indentures of apprenticeship, which, to some extent, 
reveal the practice, are very explicit in their proscription of 
immorality. 42 This emphasis was not repeated in the laws 
of 1562 and 1 60 1, although they borrowed much from the 
earlier practice of apprenticeship. In spite of the omission, 
however, the prohibitions persisted in the practice of the 
mother-country. 43 The Massachusetts Bay indentures, in 
their reference to conduct, reproduce verbatim the phrase- 
ology of their English models. 44 

42 Archaeological Journal, XXIX, 184. English indenture of apprenticeship 
dated 1396. "Tabernam, scortum, talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit. 
. . . Fornicationem nee adulterium . . . nullo modo committet." 

Hibbert, Inf. and Devel. of Eng. Gilds, 52. English indenture dated 1414. 
"Tabernam, scortum, talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit. . . . Fornica- 
tionem nee adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia dicti Johannis nullo 
modo committet." 

Rogers, Hist. Agric. and Prices, IV, 98. English indenture dated 145 1. "He 
is not to frequent taverns, nor to commit fornication in or out of his master's house. 
He is not to play at dice, tables, or chequers, or any other unlawful games, but 
is to conduct himself soberly, justly, piously, well and honorably." 

43 Dunlop, English Apprenticeship, 352. English indenture dated Jan. 6, 
1708. "Tavernes or Alehouses hee shall not haunt Dice Cardes or any other 
unlawfull games hee shall not use ffornication with any woman hee shall not 
committ." 

44 New Hampshire Hist. Soc. Coll., VIII, 287. A New Hampshire (New Hamp- 
shire was part of Mass. Bay 1641-1679) indenture dated Nov. 25, 1676. "For- 
nication he shall not commit. . . . He shall not play cards, or dice, or any other un- 
lawful game . . . taverns he shall not haunt." 

New England Hist, and Geneal. Register, Vol. 33, 18. A Scituate indenture dated 
Sept. 9, 1 75 1. "Taverns or Ale-houses she shall not frequent; at cards, Dice or 
any other unlawful Game she shall not play; Fornication she shall not commit." 

Diary of Cotton Mather, 199. On April 12, 1713, Cotton Mather made this 
entry in his diary: "My kinsmen, that are prentices, must have my frequent 
Counsils and Charges, to shun evil Doings by which young men undo themselves, 
and to serve their Masters with all possible fidelity." 



CHAPTER IV 

APPRENTICESHIP AND APPRENTICESHIP EDUCA- 
TION IN THE CONNECTICUT, NEW HAVEN, 
AND RHODE ISLAND COLONIES 

Connecticut and New Haven 

The first legislation concerning elementary education in 
the Connecticut colony is contained in the Code of 1650. It 
is evident that this Code borrowed much from the 1642 and 
1647 laws of Massachusetts, from which colony Connecticut 
was an off-shoot. 1 In addition to the provisions for an ele- 
mentary school in every town of fifty families (Cf. Mass. 
Bay Act of 1647), the statute of 1650, like the Massachusetts 
law of 1642, made use of the apprenticeship system to compel 
all parents and masters to educate their children and ap- 
prentices. The Code follows: 

Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular behalf 
and benefit to any commonwealth, and whereas many parents and mas- 
ters are too indulgent and negligent of their duty in that kind; it is 
therefore ordered by this Court and authority thereof, that the select- 
men of every town, in the several precincts and quarters where they 
dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to 
see first, that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of 
their families as not to endeavor to teach by themselves or others their 
children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them perfectly to 
read the English tongue and knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty 
of twenty shillings for each neglect therein; also, that all masters of fami- 

1 Much of the legislation of Connecticut and New Haven was borrowed from 
Massachusetts Bay Laws. The tenor of earlier laws in these colonies shows that 
Massachusetts models were used. In 1655, the General Court of New Haven 
"further desired the Governor to send for one of the new Books of laws of the 
Massachusetts colony, and to view over a small book of laws newly come from 
New England which is said to be Mr. Cotton's, and to add to what is already done 
as he shall think fit." (Records of the Colony of New Haven, 146) 



in Colonial New England and New York 53 

lies do once a week at least catechise their children and servants in the 
grounds and principles of religion and if any be unable to do so much, 
that then, at the least, they procure such children and apprentices to 
learn some short orthodox catechism, without book, that they may be 
able to answer the questions that shall be propounded to them out of such 
catechisms by their parents or masters or any of the selectmen when they 
shall call them to a trial of what they have learned in this kind. And 
further, that all parents and masters do breed and bring up their children 
and apprentices in some honest Lawful labor or employment, either in 
husbandry, or in some other trade profitable to themselves and the 
commonwealth, if they will not or can not train them up in learning to 
fit them for higher employments. And if any of the selectmen, after 
admonition by them given to such masters of families, shall find them 
still negligent of their duties in the particulars aforementioned, whereby 
children and servants become rude, stubborn, and unruly, the said select- 
men with the help of two magistrates shall take such children or apprentices 
from them and place them with some masters for years, boys till they come 
to twenty-one and girls to eighteen years of age complete which will more 
strictly look unto, and force them to submit unto government, according to 
the rules of this order, if by fair means and former instructions they will 
not be drawn unto it. 2 

After the manner of the 1642 law, this statute required 
that all children be taught to read, understand the principles 
of religion and capital laws, and trained in some useful call- 
ing. The Connecticut law added the requirement that "all 
masters of families do once a week at least catechise their 
children and servants in the grounds and principles of re- 
ligion." Furthermore, the Selectmen were instructed to 
"call" children "to a trial of what they have learned in this 
kind." Parents and masters who neglected to educate their 
children and apprentices, were to be fined for first offences, 
and in case of continued neglect, their children or apprentices 

2 Conn. Col. Recs., I, 520-21. 

An act of 1796 repeats the order that "All parents and masters of children, 
shall by themselves or others teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and in- 
structed all such children as are under their care and government, according 
to their ability, to read the English tongue well and to know the laws against capi- 
tal offenses; And if unable to do so much, then at best to learn some short cate- 
chism without book, so as to be able to answer to the questions that shall be pro- 
pounded to them out of such catechism, of what they have learned of that kind." 
(Laws of Conn., 1796, 60) 



54 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

were to be taken away by the Selectmen and bound out to 
masters who would observe the law. The Connecticut law 
also defined the term of service — "boys till they come to 
twenty-one and girls to eighteen years" — which was omitted 
in the law of 1642. In the Massachusetts statute Selectmen 
who neglected their duty were punished by fines, but no 
such provision appears in the 1650 Code. This was amended, 
however, by the revision of 1702. 

In 1655 the New Haven colony enacted a similar, but more 
conservative law. 

Whereas too many parents and masters, either through an over tender 
respect to their own occasions, and business, or not duly considering the 
good of their children and apprentices, have too much neglected duty in 
their education, while they are young and capable of learning, it is or- 
dered That the deputies for the particular court, in each plantation 
within this jurisdiction for the time being: or where there are no such 
deputies, the constable or other officers in publick trust, shall from time 
to time have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbours, within 
the limits of the said plantation, that all parents and masters, doe duly 
endeavour, either by their own ability and labour, or by improving such 
schoolmaster, or other helps and means, as the plantation doth afford, 
or the family may conveniently provide, that all their children and ap- 
prentices as they grow capable, may through God's blessing attain at 
least so much, as to be able duly to read the Scriptures, and other good 
and profitable printed books in the English tongue, being their native 
language, and in some competent measure to understand the main 
grounds and principles of Christian Religion necessary to salvation. And 
to give a due answer to such plain and ordinary questions, as may by 
the said deputies or officers or others, be propounded concerning the same. 
And where such deputies or officers, whether by information or exami- 
nation, shall find any parent or master, one or more negligent, he or they 
shall first give warning, and if thereupon due reformation follow, if the 
said parents or masters shall thenceforth seriously and constantly apply 
themselves to their duty in manner before expressed, the former neglect 
may be passed by; but if not, then the said deputies or other officer or 
officers, shall three months after such warning, present each such negli- 
gent person, or persons, to the next plantation court, where every such 
delinquent upon proof, shall be fined ten shillings to the plantation, to 
be levied as other fines. And if in any plantation, there be kept no such 
court for the present, in such case, the constable or other officer, or officers, 
warning such person or persons, before the freemen, or so many of them 



in Colonial New England and New York 55 

as upon notice shall meet together, and proving the neglect after warn- 
ing, shall have power to levy the fine aforesaid. The delinquent (with- 
out any further private warning) shall be proceeded against as before, but 
the fine doubled. And lastly, if after the said warning, and fine paid 
and levied, the said deputies, officer or officers shall find a continuance 
of the former negligence, if it be not obstinacy, so that such children or 
servants may be in danger to grow barbarous, rude, and stubborn, through 
ignorance, they shall give due and seasonable notice, that every such 
parent or master be summoned to the next court of magistrates, who 
are to proceed as they find cause, either to a greater fine, taking security 
for due conformity to the scope and intent of this law, or may take such 
children or apprentices from such parents or masters, and place them 
for years, boys till they come to the age of one and twenty, and girles 
till they come to the age of eighteen years, with others, who shall better 
educate and govern them, both for publick conveniency, and for the par- 
ticular good of the said children or apprentices. 3 

This statute reproduced almost verbatim the requirement 
of the laws of 1642 and 1650, that all children must be 
brought up in learning and labor, except that it omitted labor. 
The omission was not important, however, for we find in 
practice that the apprentices of the New Haven colony were 
taught " useful" trades in accordance with earlier custom. 
The "officers in publick trust" were instructed "to have" 
the same "vigilant eye over" parents and masters to see 
that the order was observed, and, where violations occurred, 
were to use the same means of enforcement. Children and 
apprentices whose education had been neglected, after their 
parents or masters had been warned and fined, were to be 
taken by the officers and apprenticed "with others who shall 
better educate and govern them." The New Haven law was 
more lenient than the Connecticut Code in that the penalty 
for the first offense was a warning, rather than a fine. 
"Three months after such warning," if the neglect had not 
been remedied, a fine of 10 shillings was imposed. "And 
lastly, if after the said warning, and the fines paid and 
levied," the neglect continued, "the magistrates . . . are 
to proceed either to a greater fine ... or may take such 

1 Records of the Colony of New Haven, 583-84. 



56 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

children or apprentices from such parents or masters," and 
bind them out. 

In 1664 when the Connecticut and New Haven colonies 
were united the 1650 Code became operative for the whole 
province. Connecticut had now established throughout the 
colony the institution which Massachusetts had found so 
effective in providing elementary education for all children. 
The law ordered reading for all, and trade training for those 
not of independent living. 

Later legislation shows the need of reenforcing the Act of 
1650. In 1675, the Court " solemnly recommend" that the 
ministers instruct families, in which family worship and in- 
struction of children were neglected, in their duty, and re- 
quired " townsmen to inquire after such families and assist 
the ministry for the reformation and education of the children 
in good literature and the knowledge of the Scripture," 
according to the law. 4 It will be recalled that Massachusetts, 
at an early date, often delegated to the ministers the duty of 
catechising children. This order was not designed to relieve 
the town officers from their duty, however. It is probable 
that they made such an interpretation, and assumed that 
the ministers would do the work alone. At any rate, the 
town officers became so negligent that it was necessary in 
1684 to impose upon them a fine of 20 shillings for each 
neglect. 5 In 1690, the Court " observing that notwithstand- 
ing the former orders made for the education of children and 
servants; there are many persons unable to read the English 
tongue," ordered "that the grand jurymen in each towne doe 
once in the year at least, vissit each famaly they suspect to 
neglect this order . . . and if they find such children and 
servants not taught as theire years are capable of, they shall 
return the names of the parents or masters of the sayd 
children so untaught to the next county court, where the 
sayd parents or masters shall be fyned twenty shillings." 6 
An Act of 1702 further enjoined the grand jurymen in each 
town to be "very careful in seeing the education of children 
4 Conn. Col. Recs., II, 281. 5 Ibid., Ill, 148. 6 Ibid., IV, 30. 



in Colonial New England and New York 57 

duly performed"; and grand jurymen and selectmen, as 
well as masters, were to be fined twenty shillings for each 
neglect. This Act definitely assigned to the ministers the 
duty of catechising. 

So far we have considered the practice established by the 
1650 Code, and subsequent legislation. The practice of 
apprenticeship antedated this legislation, however, and the 
records indicate that certain aspects of the educational re- 
quirement had been observed for some time. The earliest 
Connecticut records show the existence of the custom of 
teaching apprentices a "useful" trade. One of the earliest 
references to apprenticeship in Connecticut is contained in 
the record of a "Cort at Hartford, March 28, 1637/" in which 
the master is " ordered to teach his servants in the trade of 
carpenter accordinge to his promise." 7 Evidently in this in- 
stance the indenture had contained the master's promise to 
teach his apprentice a trade, but the master had neglected it. 
The apprentice, or his parent, or the town officers had then 
entered a complaint, which was followed by the Court order 
mentioned. From a New Haven record of the following year 
we learn that masters were occasionally required to give their 
apprentices a certain amount of "learning." 

A Generall Court 25th of Feb. 1649: Charles Higginson is ... to be 
with Thomas Fugill as apprentice unto the full end and tearme of nine 
years. The said Tho: Fugill is to find him what is convenient for him as 
a servant and to keepe him att schoole one yeare, or else to advantage 
him as much in his education as a years learning comes to. 8 

The curriculum of the school referred to is unknown, but it 
is probable that reading and writing, at least, were taught. 

Records of a later date indicate that apprentices often re- 
ceived more than the rudiment required by law. 

At a meeting of the Townsmen, Feb. 4, 1655. . . . Also an agreement 
made with William Edwards, Cooper, of Hartford. He is to take Simon 
Hillier, son of John Hillier, and keep him until he is 21 years of age, 

7 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, I, 8. 

8 Records of the Colony of New Haven, 30. 



58 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

which will be completed and ended on the 25th day of Dec. 1665; he is 
to learn him the trade of a cooper. 9 

In a Windsor indenture of 1727 the master promises "to 
teach or cause the sd apprentice to be taught the art of Arith- 
matick to such a degree that he may be able to keep a book 
well." 10 Although the law demanded that children be taught 
only reading in addition to the " capital laws," "the princi- 
ples of religion," and a "useful" trade, many masters provided 
instruction in reading, writing, and cyphering. As in the 
Massachusetts Bay colony, there was a growing demand for 
a more complete elementary education, and it was provided 
by the apprenticeship system long before it was required by 
legislation. 

For a complete account of the relationship that existed 
between master and apprentice it is necessary to examine a 
typical Connecticut indenture. The indenture is the most 
valuable record for this purpose, for it sums up and presents 
in compact form the content of a great many separate records 
from other sources. 

This Indenture witnesseth that Jonathan Stoughton, son of Thomas 
Stoughton of Windsor in the county of hartford and Coloney of Connec- 
ticut in new england, with his father's consent hath put him selfe an ap- 
prentice to Nathan day of the aboue sd Windsor county and coloney: 
blacksmith and white smith to Learn his art, trade or mystery after the 
manner of an Apprentice to serue him until the sd Jonathan Stoughton 
attaines the age of twenty-one years, during all which time the sd appren- 
tice his master faithfully shall serue, his secrets keep, his Lawfull com- 
mands gladly obaye he shall not do any damage to his sd master nor 
see it don by others without giveing notice thereof to his sd master, 
he shall not waste his sd master's goods or Lend them unLawfully to 
aney, he shall not commit fornication nor contract matrimony within 
the sd terme. at cards, dice or any other unlawfull game he shall not 
play whereby his sd master may suffer damage, he shall not absent 
himself day nor night from his master's service without his leave, nor 
haunt ale houses, Taverns or playhouses butt in all things behave him- 
selfe as a faithfull apprentice ought to do during ye sd terme, and the sd 
master shall do his utmost to teach and Instruct ye sd apprentice In 

9 Stiles, Ancient Windsor, I, 146. 10 Ibid., I, 442. 



in Colonial New England and New York 59 

the boue mentioned blacksmith and white smiths trade and mistery 
and to teach or caus the sd apprentice to be Taught the art of Arithma- 
tick to such a degree that he may be able to keep a book well, and pro- 
vide for him meat, drink, apparel, washing and lodging and phisick in 
sickness and health suitable for such an apprentice during the sd terme, 
and att the end of sd terme the sd master shall furnish the sd apprentice 
with two good new suits of apparel boath wooling and lining for all parts 
of his body suitable for such an apprentice besids that apparel he carrieth 
with him and for the performance of all and every the sd covenants and 
agreement either of the sd parties bind themselves unto the other by 
these presents in witness whereof they have interchangeably put their 
hands and seals this first day of September in the year of our Lord god, 
I727. 1 



11 



The similarities with the practice revealed by the English 
and Massachusetts Bay indentures will be evident at once. 
With very few changes in phraseology the customary obli- 
gations were assumed by master and apprentice. The ap- 
prentice bound himself for the usual term — until the age of 
twenty-one, 12 promised to serve faithfully, keep his masters' 
secrets, obey his "lawful commands," 13 protect his master 
from "damage . . . don by others," not absent himself by 
day or night from his master's service without his leave, 14 and 

11 Stiles, Ancient Windsor, I, 442. 

12 Records of the Colony of New Haven, 30. Court record of 1639: "tearme 
of nine years." 

Early Conn. Probate Records, I, 5. Will of 1641 provides "yt my two children 
be sett forth in some Godly family for 6 or 7 years or more." 

Pub. Recs. Col. of Conn., I, 222. Court record of 1661: "until he is of the age 
of twenty-one years." 

Stiles, Ancient Windsor, I, 146. Town meeting minute, 1655: "until 21." 

Pub. Recs. Col. of Conn., I, 112. Court record, 1662: "until the age of 21." 

Ibid., I, 516. Will of 1689 provides "that the girls be bound until 18 years of 
age . . . and that Abraham be bound until 21 years of age." 

13 The revision of 1702 enacted "that whatsoever child or servant within this 
colony, upon complaint, shall be convicted of any stubborn or rebellious carriage 
against their parents or governors, any two assistants or justices are hereby author- 
ized and empowered to commit such person or persons to the house of correction, 
there to remain under hard labor and severe punishment as long as they shall 
judge meet." 

14 As in Mass. Bay, runaways were punished by being compelled to serve extra 
time. An Act of 1644 provided that "Whereas many stubborn and refractory 
and discontented searvants and apprentices withdraw themselves from their 



60 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

to observe proper moral conduct. The master, in accord- 
ance with his covenant, promised to provide meat, drink, 
apparel, "phisick," 15 and to teach the apprentice his trade, 
and in this instance, the rudiments of "Arithmatick." 

Rhode Island 

The Rhode Island and Providence Plantations enacted no 
legislation comparable to the Massachusetts Bay Act of 
1642 or the Connecticut Code of 1650. The practice of ap- 
prenticeship as carried on in these colonies was adopted by 
Rhode Island without colony or town action, and it served 
the same purposes. In the absence of legislation on the 
subject it may be assumed that all children were required to 
be brought up in " learning and labor," and if this were neg- 
lected such children were taken from their parents and bound 
out as apprentices. Apprentices who were neglected were 
taken from their masters and bound to others. 

In order to learn a trade it was necessary to serve an ap- 
prenticeship. The apprenticeship system offered the only 

masters services ... it is ordered that whatsoever searvant or apprentice shall 
hereafter offend in this kynd, before their covenants or terme of searvice are ex- 
pired, shall searve their said Masters as they shall be apprehended or retayned the 
treble terme, or threefold tyme of their absence in such kynd." (Pub. Recs. Col. 
of Conn., I, 105) This order was repeated in the 1650 Code, and in 1672. 

Runaways were usually advertised and rewards offered for their apprehension. 
The Boston Gazette or Weekly Journal, Tues., July 11, 1749, contains the follow- 
ing : "Ran away from his Master Thomas Ivers Ropemaker of Stratford in Con- 
necticut the 15th Day of April last, a Prentice Boy named Peter Hepbron, of 
about 17 years of Age had on when he went away a light colour'd Cloth Pea Jacket 
a blew Vest and strip'd Waistcoat and blew Camblet Breeches, and a Pair of 
Trowsers, wore a Wig or Cap, a lusty rugged Lad of a swarthy Complexion, with 
gray Eye. Whoever shall apprehend said Apprentice and shall secure him in 
any of his Majesty's Goals, so that his Master may have him again, shall receive 
the sum of twenty pounds old Tenor, and all necessary Charges paid by me Thomas 
Ivers." 

See also Connecticut Journal, New Haven, Dec. 13, 1798; Sept. 4, 1799; 

Dec. s, 1799- 

15 The parent-to-child relationship included the responsibility of the master 
to provide proper medical attention in case of sickness. A master of Hartford in 
1655 was required by the town "to get his (the apprentice) scurf head cured." 
(Stiles, Ancient Windsor, I, 146) 



in Colonial New England and New York 61 

means of becoming an artisan of any kind. If old enough 
a minor selected the calling he desired to follow, and bound 
himself, with his parent's consent, to a master; otherwise the 
parent decided it for him. This difference was always in- 
corporated in the form of indenture or record; the former 
usually reads as follows: "I Henry Straight of Rhoad Island 
in New England of my owne free and voluntary will put 
myself an apprentice"; 16 the latter type of apprenticeship 
may be observed in a record like the following: " Mercy 
Estance hath put . . . her Daughter Jerusa Sugars ... to 
be an Apprentice . . . untill the said Child doe attaine to 
the full & just age of Eighteene yeares . . . said master . . . 
to learn the said Jerusa Sugars the art & mistry of a Tailor 
... & to learn her to Read Well." 17 Both were known as 
voluntary apprentices. 

Poor-children and orphans were bound out by the town — ■ 
boys until twenty-one, and girls until eighteen years of age — 
to masters who would bring them up properly. A Provi- 
dence record of Nov. 26, 1662, indicates the form of procedure 
in such cases: "The Towne hath put . . . Daniell Comstock 
to William Carpenter to be an Apprentice untill the said Ladd 
be Twenty and one years of age." 18 The Overseers of the 
Poor were instructed to look about for "suitable" masters, 
and, if possible, place such children without expense to the 
town. If this could not be done, the town paid for the care 
and maintenance of its wards. 

Council Meeting, Providence, Sept. 24, 1722. It is voted that Richard 
wickes shall have the sum of ten pounds allowed him out of the Towns 
treasury toward bringing up the Child: upon signeing an Indenture for 

16 Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth, 414. Indenture dated Dec. 24, 
1667. 

17 Early Records of the Town of Providence, V, 17. Dated Jan. 11, 1708. 

18 Ibid., Ill, 31. 

Ibid., XII, 55. Providence, 1716. 

Ibid., IX, 85. Providence, 1724. Girl bound until 18 years of age. 
Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth, 430. Portsmouth, 1678. Boy for 
ten years. 

Ibid., 432. Portsmouth, 1678. Girl for "ffifteene years." 



62 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

the bringing up . . . untill the age of twenty one: It is . . . ordered that 
the overseers of the poor . . . signe an Indenture of sd Child to Richard 
Wickes. . . . The Childs name is John Blackstone Jr and he is to be Learned 
to Reade and brought up in the art of husbandry. 19 

Orphans with estates were bound out in the usual manner, 
and their masters were paid from the estate a sum agreed 
upon between the town and the masters. 

The Town Councill (Feb. 4, 1695) have agreed with ye sd Nicholas 
Sheldon to take ye sd Daniel meld an apprentice . . . the said Nicholas 
Sheldon to have 50s paid out of ye sd Zach: meld (Daniel field's father) 
his Estate ... & to learne sd Ladd to Reade & Rite. 20 

It is evident from these and similar records that the town 
required for the children whom it placed out a certain amount 
of education in addition to trade instruction. 

The indenture with a few minor changes follows the model 
used by the Massachusetts Bay colony. 

This Indenture witnesseth that I william Potter son of John Potter of 
Prouidence in the Colony of Rhoad Island and Prouidence plantations, 
(deceased) hath put himself and by these presents with the free and full 
Consent of his mother Jane Potter: Put himself an apprentis to Daniel 
Cook of the same Town and Colony aforesaid Joyner to Learn his Art 
After the manner of an apprentis to serue him the said Daniel Cook his 
Executors or administrators from the day of the date of these Presents 
untill he the said William Potter shall attaine and Com to the full age 
of twenty one yeares; dureing all which term the said Apprentis his said 
master faithfully shall serue his secrits Keepe his Lawful Commands 
Euery where obey: he shall do no Damage to his said master nor seene 
to be don of others without Giueing notis there of unto his said master he 
shall not wast his said masters Goods nor lend them unlawfully to any 
att Cards Dice or any unlawful Game he shall not Play where by his said 
master may haue damage in his own Goods or others he shall not Cum- 
mit fornication nor Contract Matrimony with in the said term; he shall 
not absent himself day nor night from his said masters seruis without 
his Leaue, Nor haunt aile Houses or Taverns: but in all things be haue 
himself as a faithfull apprentis ought to do dureing all the said term 
And I the said Daniel Cook do promise and Ingage for myself my Exe- 
cutors and administrators to Learn and Instruct my said Apprentis 

19 Early Records of the Town of Providence, XII, 40. 20 Ibid., X, 35. 



in Colonial New England and New York 63 

William Potter In the trade mistry or art of a Joyner in the best manner 
that I Can within the said term; and also Instruct him in the trade of a 
House Carpenter as I haue oppertunity: and not put him to any other 
servis dureing the sd term without his Concent; and also Learn or Cause 
him to be Learned or taught to Reade English and wright and Cypher 
so far as to keepe a Booke: and to find and Prouide for him sufficient 
meate Drink apparrill Lodging and washing befitting an apprentis dure- 
ing all the said term: And when the said term is Expired which will be 
in the yeare of our Lord; one thousand seauen hundred and nineteene 
or twenty; then to sett him ffree: with as Good apparill in all Respects 
fit for his body throughout as he now is in at his first Entring into his 
seruis: the which apparill is perticuliorly named on the back side of this 
Indenture, for the true performance here of Each party binds themselues 
unto the other firmly by these presents. In witness where of they haue 
here unto Enter Changeable sett there hands and seals this twenty ninth 
day of march anno Domoni one thousand seauen hundred and sixteene. 21 

Master and apprentice bound themselves to fulfill the 
customary obligations during the usual term — " Until 
twenty-one years of age." 22 

Violations of covenant were punished by colony and town 
action. Masters who "put away" their apprentices, and 
apprentices who ran away without "license" or "sufficient" 
cause were punished in accordance with the provisions of 
the Providence Code of 1647. 

Breach of Covenant is by this present Assembly, forbidden throwout 
the whole Colonic . . . 

And be it further enacted, that no person retayning a servant, shall 
putt their servant away, nor no person retayned shall depart from their 

21 Early Records of the Town of Providence, IX, 12. 

22 Similar obligations and terms appear in the following indentures, and town 
meeting minutes: 

Early Recs. Town of Prov., II, 37. "Terme of Seaven Years." 1659. 
Ibid., Ill, 31. "Twentye and one Year of age." 1662. 
Ibid., V, 292. "fifteene yeares and a halfe." 1674. 
Ibid., V, 146. "until 21 years old." 1696. 
Ibid., V, 17. Girl, "to age of Eighteene yeares." 1708. 
' Ibid., XII, 40. "until the age of twenty one." 1722. 
Ibid., IX, 85. Girl, "until eighteen years." 1724. 

Early Recs. Town of Portsmouth, 412. Boy, "fowertene yeares." 1663. 
Ibid., 430. Boy, "ten years." 1678. 
Ibid., 432. Girl, "fnfteene years." 1678. 



64 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

master, mistress, or dame, untill the end of the term covenanted for, 
unless it be for some reasonable and sufficient cause, witnessed before 
and allowed by the Head Officer or Officers of the Towne and three or 
foure able and discreet men of the Common Councill or Towne appointed 
thereto, under their hands in writing, for the discharge eyther of Master 
or Servant. 

And be it enacted further, that that Master, Mistress, or Dame, 
that putts away their servant without sufficient cause, and so allowed 
with such a discharge, shall forfeit the sum of forty shillings; and if any 
servant departe from his or her Master, Mistress, or Dame's service, 
before the end of the Terme covenanted for, unless it be for some suffi- 
cient cause allowed of as before, or not serve according to the tenure of the 
promise or covenant, upon complaint unto the Head Officers of the Towne 
and their associates, the matter being fully proved, he shall be committed 
to Ward without Baile or Mainprize, untill by sufficient sureties he be 
bound to his Master, Mistress, or Dame, to perform the engagement. 

Be it also enacted, by the authority abovesaid that he that shall 
retaine a Servant not lawfully dismissed and sett at liberty from his 
master, shall forfeit for every such offence five pounds which the Master 
may recover by an action of Debt. 23 

If the master neglected to provide sufficient "meat, drink, 
and lodging," the apprentice could obtain redress by ap- 
pearing before the town authorities and lodging a complaint. 
An interesting case appears in the minute of "a Towne 
Cowncill held att Providence ye 13th day of April 17 17: 

Whereas William Dalie saruant of Joseph Dalie appeared before this 
Councill with a Complaint against his sd master for want of Cloathing and 
Lodging for the which Complaint ye sd saruant or Apprentis hath bin 
placed for sum time past with Samuel Bates: And the Councill haueing 
Considered ye premises haue ordered as followeth that ye sd Lad shall 
abide with ye sd Samuel Bates untill his sd master shall prouide such 
apparil as Major ffenner shall approue of to be Conveniant for sd apprentis 
the which sd Cloathing sd Joseph Dalie is to bring to major ffenners 
house and then ye sd Major ffenner If he approueth of them to be suffi- 
cient to send a few lines to Samuel Bates to bring sd Lad to his house: 
and sd Joseph Dalie to be Accountable to sd Bates for his trouble att 
ye discression of sd major fenner. 24 

23 Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, I, 182. 
Code of Laws for the Province of Providence, 1647, drawn up at a General Court 
of Election held at Portsmouth. (See 5 Eliz. 4) 

24 Early Recs. Town of Providence, XII, 56. 



in Colonial New England and New York 65 

The apprentice was taken away from his master, and placed 
with another master who provided for him. In the meantime 
his former master was ordered to provide "such apparil as 
Major ffenner (one of the town officials) shall approue," and 
bring it to "major ffenners house." If it were approved the 
master could regain his apprentice by paying for his main- 
tenance during the time he lived with the new master. The 
town fixed the charges "att ye discression" of its officer. 

All apprentices whether voluntary or placed 5 out by the 
town because of poverty, lack of a guardian, or neglect of 
education, received a more or less complete elementary edu- 
cation. In some cases it included only "to Reade"; 25 this 
was the usual provision for girls, in accordance with earlier 
custom. In others the master was obliged to teach his ap- 
prentice "to Reade & Rite." 26 Finally, as the demand 
became more widespread, masters were required to teach 
their apprentices "to Reade English and wright and 
Cypher." 27 

25 Early Recs. Town of Providence, XII, 40. Town order, 1722, for poor boy. 
Ibid., V, 17. Girl, "to read well." 1708. 

Ibid., IX, 5. Girl, "to Read." 1713. 

Ibid., IX, 85. Girl, "to Reade English." 1724. 

26 Early Recs. Town of Providence, X, 35. 1695. 
Ibid., V, 146. " to read & write." 1696. 
Ibid., XII, 55. "to write & Reade." 1716. 

27 Early Recs. Town of Providence, IX, 5. 1713. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PRACTICE OF APPRENTICESHIP IN THE 
PROVINCE OF NEW YORK AS REVEALED 
BY 'POOR-LAWS 

The first provision made for education in the Province of 
New York was the extension of the educational requirements 
of the apprenticeship system. This was contained in the 
Duke of York's Laws of 1665, drawn up shortly after the 
English occupation. 

The Constables and Overseers are strictly required frequently to 
Admonish the Inhabitants of Instructing their Children and Servants in 
Matters of Religion and the Lawes of the Country, And that Parents and 
Masters do bring up their Children and Apprentices in some honest and 
Lawful Calling Labour or Employment. 1 

From the tenor of this requirement, and from the fact that 
the entire Code of 1665 had been " collected out of the several 
laws now in force in his Majesty's American colonies and 
plantations," it is evident that the delegates to the con- 
vention at Hempstead had before them the Massachusetts 
Bay Act of 1642. Each law emphasized the principle that 
all children must be brought up in learning and labor. The 
1665 Code provided for all " children and apprentices," and 
therefore included both voluntary apprentices and those 
bound out by public authority, although it did not designate 
each class separately. 

The first reference to apprenticeship as a method of poor- 
relief appears in a statute enacted by the Dongan Assembly 
of Nov. 1, 1683, entitled "An Act for Defraying of the pub- 
lique and necessary Charge of each respective Citty, towne 

1 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 26. 



in Colonial New England and New York 67 

and County throughout this Province & for maintaining 
the poore & preventing vagabonds." This act provided 

Thatt annually . . . there shall bee elected a certaine number out of 
each respective Citty Towne and County throughout this Province . . . 
which . . . shall have power & authority to make an assessment or cer- 
taine Rate ... for defraying of all the publique and necessary charges 
of each respective place above menconed. 

And farther Whereas itt is the Custome & practice of his Majestys 
Realm of England, and all the adjacent Colonys in America that every 
respective County Citty towne parrish & precinct doth take care & pro- 
vide for the poor who do inhabit in their respective precincts aforesaid. 

Therefor itt is Enacted by the authority aforesaid thatt for the time 
to come the respective Commissioners of every County, Citty, Towne 
parish & Precinct aforesaid shall make provision for the maintenance 
support of their poor respectively. 2 

The Act of 1683 was virtually repealed by "An Act for 
Defraying the Publick and necessary Charge throughout 
this Province, and for maintaining the Poor and Preventing 
Vagabonds" passed May 13, 1691, which made the support 
of the poor a town charge only. 3 Furthermore it limited 
the "certaine number" to "two freeholders." Neither Act 
named these officers, but Overseers of the Poor were men- 
tioned in the Code of 1665. The "custome" of England re- 
quired that the children of poor parents be placed out as 
apprentices by the Overseers of the Poor, or Church Wardens. 
But it was not until 1693 that Church Wardens were defi- 
nitely mentioned in connection with poor-relief. In that 
year, "An Act for Settling a Ministry and Raising a Mainte- 
nance for them in the city of New York, County of Rich- 
mond, Westchester, and Queens County," provided 

That the respective Justices of Every City County aforesaid or any 
two of them Shall every year issue out their warrants to the constables 
to summon the freeholders of every City County and Precinct aforesaid 
together on the 2d Tuesday in January for the chusing of ten Vistry men 
and two Church Wardens and the said Justices and Vistry men or the 
major part of them are hereby empowered ... to lay a reasonable Tax 

2 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 132. 

3 Ibid., I, 237. Repeated May 11, 1697, and May 20, 1708. 



68 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

on the respective City County parish or precinct for the Maintenance of 
the Minister and Poor of their respective places. 4 

Although this Act did not assign to the Church Wardens 
the duty of Overseers of the Poor in regard to the appren- 
ticing of poor-children, it may be assumed that they exercised 
that function in cooperation with the Overseers. 

The records indicate that the Church Wardens were ac- 
tually binding out poor-children, in accordance with the 
English custom, shortly after the Act mentioned. In the 
minutes of "a Court of Record held at the City Hall on 
Tuesday the 13th day of January Anno Dom. 17 19," we 
read 

Ordered that the Church Wardens Inspect in what Condition the 
Widow and Children of Thomas Gregson are in at the Bowery & if they 
find the Children Objects of Charity that they Relieve them at their 
discretions or put them out Apprentice for a term of Years. 6 

The same Court of Record, on June 30, 17 19, issued the 
following order: 

Ordered that the Church Wardens put Susannah Maria Beyer a poor 
Child Without any parents, or Relations in this City Aged about Nine 
years Apprentice unto Obadiah Hunt & Susannah his wife for the Term 
of Nine Years the Master & Mistress to Maintain with Apparell Meat 
Drink washing & Lodging & teach her Housewifery. 6 

A large number of similar records appears in the Mayor's 
Court Minutes. 7 

In the practice of poor-law apprenticeship the child of 
poor parents was placed with a master whose qualifications 
were acceptable to the Overseers of the Poor or Church 
Wardens, and who was willing to take an apprentice. It 

4 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 328. Also Laws of N. Y. Bradford edition of 1694, 72. 

5 Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 171 7 to June 1721, Vol. II. Manuscript 
folio. Pages not numbered. Items entered chronologically. 

6 Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 1717 to June 1721, Vol. II. 

7 Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 1717 to June 1721, Vol. II. Entries under 
dates: Oct. 27, 1719; May 24, 1720; Mar. 20, 1721. 

Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 26, 1724 to June 1729. Entries under dates: 
Dec. 13, 1726; Mar. 12, 1727; Feb. 25, 1729; Oct. 22, 1729; Dec. 24, 1729. 



in Colonial New England and New York 69 

is hardly probable that a master was obliged to accept an 
apprentice if he did not want one. The Overseers were re- 
quired by law "to take Order, from time to time ... to 
raise a competent Sum of Money, yearly, to purchase proper 
materials for the Poor to work on; for the necessary relief of 
such poor People as are not able to work; and for putting out 
poor Children Apprentices." 8 Although the records of pauper- 
apprenticeship do not refer to this practice, it is probable that 
the New England custom obtained, of making an agreement 
with the prospective master to take an apprentice for a certain 
sum of money to be paid out of public funds. 

The boy, if old enough to know, may have been con- 
sulted in regard to the trade he preferred to learn, and the 
Overseers or Church Wardens may have placed him with a 
master of that trade. Otherwise, he had no choice in the 
matter, and was obliged to serve the master to whom he 
was bound by the public officers. Many such masters must 
have been men of uncertain temper, or otherwise undesirable 
as foster parents, and, in consequence, their apprentices found 
life with them more or less unendurable at times. But the 
law did not take this into consideration, except where masters 
were unduly abusive and cruel. Sometimes, however, a 
pauper-apprentice was rescued from a long term of service to 
a stranger, when a relative came forward and offered to pro- 
vide for him. In that event the case was taken to court, and 
the apprentice was freed from his master, and bound to his 
relative. A Quarter Sessions Court record of 1739 illustrates 
such a case: 

Stephen Wood an Infant Aged about twelve years who was bound out 
Apprentice to John Deffer of the City of New York Cordwainer untill he 
attain the Age of Twenty one years whereas the said John Deffer & 
Gertie Wood the Mother of the said Stephen Wood have prayed the 
Court that the said Stephen Wood be discharged from the said Appren- 
ticeship, an Uncle of the said Stephen Wood promising to undertake 
to provide for the said Stephen Wood & to educate him in Husbandry. 

8 Poor laws of 1747, 1754, 1763, 1768, 1772. This "Sum of Money" is the 
assessment or "certaine Rate" mentioned in the Act of Nov. 1, 1683. 



70 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

It is therefore orderd that the said Stephen Wood be discharged from the 
said Apprenticeship. 9 

If a father deserted his family, 10 or was committed to jail, 
his children were treated as poor children, and bound out 
accordingly. "Att a Common Councill held att the Citty 
Hall of the Said Citty on the 27th day of Feb. 1693," the 
Overseers of the Poor were ordered to place out the children 
of a prisoner. The Council record follows: 

Pursuant to an Order of ye Govr. and Council bearing Date the fif- 
teenth Instant upon Petition of John L. Roux now a Prisoner in this 
Citty and referring the Same to the Mayor and Aldermen of the Said 
Citty that they Consider to Supply the Necessities of ye Prisoner's wife 
and children or to give an Account next Thursday unto the Council of 
their Reasons to the Contrary. Ordered that the Overseers of the 
Poor doe put the Children of the Said Petitioner in some Good Reputable 
Families for their Subsistence dureing his Imprisonment. 11 

Either the Church Wardens were not yet acting as Over- 
seers, or the Court, at its discretion, discriminated between 
the two classes of officials in assigning certain tasks. A 
record of 1725, however, contains the definite assignment of 
the Church Wardens to a similar duty. 

Att a Court of Record held at the City Hall of the said City on Tues- 
day the 20th day of July Anno Dom. 1725. 

Ordered the Church Wardens do provide for or put out for a Term of 
years in the best Manner they can Joseph Byng an Infant aged Eighteen 
Months or thereabouts son of Thomas Byng Feltmaker who is committed 
to the Common Gaol of the City for the Murder of his wife Martha. 12 

9 Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions & of the Court of Sessions, May 
1722 to Nov. 1742. Manuscript folio. Pages not numbered. Items entered 
chronologically. 

"Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 26, 1724 to June 1729. "Att a Court of 
Record held at the City Hall of the Said City on Tuesday the first day of July 
Anno Dom. 1729. Whereas \yilliam Lane late of this City Victualler has privately 
withdrawn himself and left three Male Children very Young without anything 
to subsist them unless taken care of must perish. It is therefore Orderd that the 
Church Wardens do take Care of & provide for the subsistence of the said Children 
till such time as they Can put them out Apprentice till they attain the Age of one 
& twenty years." 

11 Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, I, 348. 

12 Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 26, 1724 to June 1729. 



in Colonial New England and New York 71 

Orphans without estates were, in effect, poor children and 
were taken care of through the apprenticeship system. The 
administrators of estates belonging to minors were held 
strictly accountable for the improvement of such estates. 
Under the title "Orphants," in the Duke of York's Law of 
1665, it was enacted 

That all Persons who now have or shall have any Estate of Goods, 
Chatties or Lands, in their possession, belonging to any that are under 
age shall exhibite an Inventory and Accompts of that said Estate within 
three Moneths next after Publication of this Law, to the respective Courts 
of Sessions where such Estate shall be and afterwards yearly . . . and if 
any good Improvement hath not been made of the Estate ... it shall be 
removed into the hands of some other able and discreet Person or Per- 
sons as the Court shall appoint. 13 

The maintenance and education of orphans were provided 
for in "An Act for the Supervising Intestates Estates, and 
regulating the Probate of Wills and granting Letters of Ad- 
ministration," of Nov. 11, 1692, which ordered 

If the said Intestate did leave only Orphans behind him and has no 
Relations or Kindred who will administer upon the said Intestates Es- 
tate, then the Supervisor of each respective County delegated as afore- 
said, shall only have the Administration and Care of the said Intestates 
Estate and the same shall secure, as aforesaid, for the Use, Benefit, and 
Behoof of the said Orphans, and not otherwise; And the said Intestates 
Estate, so inventoried as aforesaid, shall cause to be well secured, and 
improved to the best Advantage for the behoof of the said Orphans, 
until they marry or come to the Age of One and Twenty Years. And 
that he shall likewise take effectual care for the Educating and Instructing of 
the said Orphans in the Holy Protestant Religion, and they shall be honestly 
maintained according to the Capacity of the said Intestates Estate. 14 

If it were found that the estate were inadequate for the 
maintenance and education of such children, they became 

13 East Hampton Book of Laws, June ye 24th 1665; or N. Y. Province Laws, 
Duke of York, 1665, 375. 

14 Laws of N. Y., 1691-1751, 14. (Parker) 

Laws of N. Y., 1691-1773, 292. (Gaine) An Act of Nov. 24, 1750 extended 
the Act of 1692 to Orange County. 

Ibid., 707. An Act of Mar. 24, 1772 extended the 1692 Act to Tryon, Char- 
lotte, Cumberland, and Gloucester counties. 



72 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

town charges, and as such were taken by the Overseers or 
Church Wardens, and apprenticed to persons who would pro- 
vide for them. 15 

"Att a Common Council held at the City Hall of the said 
City on Wed. 31st day of March Anno Dom. 1736," the 
Church Wardens were definitely appointed Overseers of the 
Poor for the City of New York. As we have seen, they had 
been serving in that office for some time. The enactment 
follows : 

And the Church Wardens of this City be appointed Overseers of the 
Poor and that they have the Direction and providing of necessary sup- 
plys of Provisions for the said Workhouse and poorhouse out of the fund 
for the Maintenance of the Minister and poor, etc. . . . That such parish 
children as may be hereafter sent to the poorhouse for Maintainance, 
that Care be taken by the Masters thereof (by the Directions of the 
Church Wardens and Overseers of the Poor) that they be religiously 
educated and taught to read, write and cast account; and employed 
in spinning, in spinning wool, Thread, Knitting, Sewing or other 
Labour most suitable to their Genius in order to qualify them to be 
put out apprentices. 16 

The Church Wardens continued to serve in this capacity 
until "An Act for the Settlement and Relief of the Poor," 
passed April 17, 1784, abolished their office. This general 
statute ordered 

That the Office of Church Wardens, Vestrymen for overseeing, re- 
lieving or settling the Poor becoming a Public charge, heretofore estab- 
lished or used in the City of New York, and Queens, Richmond and 
Westchester Counties be and the same offices hereby respectively are 
annulled and abolished; and at all times hereafter there shall be an- 
nually elected in and for the City and County of New York two Over- 
seers of the Poor for each respective Ward, who with the Mayor, 
Recorder and Alderman of the said City and County shall exercise all 
the Powers and authorities heretofore Appertaining to the Offices of 
Vestrymen of the said City, with respect to the overseeing, relieving, or 
settling the Poor, and binding out or placing of Apprentices. 17 

15 See page 68. 

16 Minutes, Common Council, City of N. Y., IV, 309-310. 

17 Laws of N. Y., 1784, 46. (Holt) 



in Colonial New England and New York 73 

This Act of abolishment reveals the fact that the Church 
Wardens had been administering poor-relief throughout the 
more important counties of the Province of New York. 

During the later colonial period there were few general 
laws concerning the apprenticing of poor-children. The ad- 
ministration of poor-relief was left almost entirely to the 
various counties, manors, parishes, and towns. It was recog- 
nised by the General Assembly that one law could not be 
successfully applied everywhere. Consequently it enacted 
separate laws for the various subdivisions of the province. 18 
Although no absolute uniformity characterised these Acts, 
the same general scheme of administering poor-relief bound 
them together. Each subdivision was permitted "to chuse 
and elect ... so many Persons to be Overseers of the Poor, 
as the Majority of Freeholders and Inhabitants of such Town, 
Manor, and Precinct, then present, shall judge necessary," 19 
and these Overseers were to proceed in the manner pre- 
scribed by the 'earliest poor-laws. No definite number of 
Overseers was designated. A general "Act for the Settle- 
ment and Relief of the Poor," of April 17, 1784, ordered 
that "at all times there shall be annually elected in and for 

18 "An Act for the Relief of the Poor in the County of Suffolk." Passed Nov. 
25, 1747. (Laws of N.Y., 1691-1751, 404. Parker.) 

"An Act for the Relief of the Poor in Dutchess County, to enable the Inhab- 
itants of the several Precincts thereof, to elect Overseers of the Poor and to ascer- 
tain the Places of their respective Meetings." Passed Dec. 7, 1754. (Laws of 
N. Y., 1691-1773, 343. Gaine.) Repeated April 1, 1775 (Laws of N. Y., Jan- 
Apr., 1775, 121). 

"An Act for the Relief of the Poor in the Manor of Cortlandt, in the County of 
Westchester." Passed Dec. 13, 1763. (Laws of N. Y., 1691-1773, 438. Gaine.) 

"An Act or the Relief of the Poor in the Counties of Ulster and Orange, and to 
enable the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the several Towns and Precincts thereof 
to elect Overseers of the Poor at their annual Meetings." Passed Dec. 31, 1768. 
(Col. Laws of N. Y., IV, 1060.) 

"An Act to enable the Justices, Church Wardens and Vestry of the Parish of 
Westchester in the County of Westchester, to raise a Sum not exceeding five hun- 
dred pounds, for the Purposes therein mentioned." Passed Feb. 26, 1772. 
(Laws of N. Y., 1691-1773, 643. Gaine.) 

"An Act for the Relief of the Poor in the County of Albany." Passed Mar. 8, 
1773. (Laws of N. Y., 1691-1773, 799. Gaine.) 

19 "An Act for the Relief of the Poor in the County of Suffolk," 1747. 



74 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

the City and County of New York two Overseers of the Poor 
for each respective Ward." 20 

Although each separate Act mentioned in the preceding 
paragraph was designed to meet the needs of the respective 
localities in regard to the general administration of poor- 
relief, the mode of procedure in dealing with poor-children 
remained constant. Each Act repeated the following order: 

said Overseers, by and with the Consent of two or more Justices of 
the Peace, are hereby impowered to bind Apprentices all such Children 
whose Parents, shall not by the Overseers and Justices aforesaid, be 
thought able to keep and maintain them, where they the said Overseers 
and Justices as aforesaid, shall see convenient until such Male Child 
come to the age of Twenty-one Years, and such Female Child to the 
Age of Eighteen. 

This was "the Custome & practice of his Majestys Realm 
in England, and all adjacent Colonys in America," mentioned 
in the enactment of the Dongan Assembly of Nov. i, 1683 

20 Laws of N. Y., 1784, 46. Holt. 



CHAPTER VI 

APPRENTICESHIP AND APPRENTICESHIP EDUCA- 
TION IN THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK AS 
REVEALED BY LEGISLATION, COURT ORDERS, 
ETC. 

When a master took an apprentice he was required by 
law to enter into an agreement or contract with the ap- 
prentice containing the promises or covenants that should 
govern their relations to each other. Then he must appear 
before the town authorities, and register the contract or 
indenture. The terms of the indenture were copied in a 
book kept for this purpose, and so became a public record. 1 
Public enrollment of apprentices was insisted upon at a 
very early date in England, and was the custom in the New 
England colonies. Although the law of the mother-country 
obtained in the Province of New York from the date of 
occupation, the Common Council of the City of New York 
evidently found it necessary to remind the inhabitants of 
this requirement. It is probable that a number of cases of 
neglect had occurred. At any rate the following law was 
enacted: 

1 Earliest book is entitled "Citty of N. Yorke Indentures of Apprenticeship 
begun February 19, 1694 and ends Jan. ye 29th 1707." This is a manuscript 
folio volume preserved at the City Hall of New York City. 

Another book of this character is entitled "Indentures Oct. 2, 1718 to Aug. 7, 
1727." This is "Liber 29" which originally belonged to the Hall of Records of 
New York City. It is now in the library of the New York Historical Society. 

A Common Council Act of Oct. 27, 1727 "Ordered the Mayor Issue his War- 
rant to the Treasurer to pay unto William Sharpes Town Clerk of this City . . . the 
sum of fourteen pounds Nine Shillings and three pence Current Money of New 
York in full of half a Years Sallary due and Ending the fourteenth day of this 
Instant October, for Pens, Ink and Paper for one Year due and Ending the same 
time, for a Book for Recording Indentures of Apprenticeship. ..." (Min. Com. 
Coun. City of N. Y., Ill, 423) 



76 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Att a Common Council held att the Citty Hall of the said Citty on 
Wensday the 16th day of January Anno Dom 1694. 

Ordered that Noe Merchant handy Craft Tradesman Shall take Any 
Prentice to teach or instruct them in their Trade or Calling without 
being bound by Indentures before the Mayor Recorder or Any one of ye 
Aldermen of the Said Citty and Registered in the Town Clerkes Office 
and not for a Less Term than four Years; and att the Expiration of the 
Indentures the said Apprentice Shall be made Free of the Said Citty by 
his Said Master if he have well and truely Served him; and that the Clerke 
have for Registering each Indenture of Apprenticeship as Aforesaid the 
Sum of three Shillings to be paid by the Master of such Apprentice bound 
as Aforesaid. 2 

Every freeman, in "The Oath of a Freeman of the City 
of New York," was required to take the following oath: 
"YE SHALL SWEAR that . . . within the first year ye 
Shall Cause him (the apprentice) to be Enrolled or Else pay 
such fine as Shall be reasonably Imposed upon you for 
Omitting the same." 3 

This Act applied to poor-law apprentices as well as to 
voluntary apprentices. It will be recalled that the Duke of 
York's Laws " strictly required . . . that Parents and Masters 
do bring up their children and Apprentices in some honest 
and Lawful Calling Labour or Employment." And the rec- 
ords indicate that, in every case, Overseers of the Poor and 

2 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., I, 373-74. 

This Act was repeated at the following Common Councils: Nov. 19, 1695 
{Ibid., I, 388); Dec. 10, 1695 {Ibid., I, 393); Nov. 23, 1697 {Ibid., II, 22); Dec. 23, 
1 701 {Ibid., II, 184); Feb. 15, 1702 {Ibid., II, 223); Dec. 21, 1706 {Ibid., II, 314); 
Mar. 7, 1711 {Ibid., Ill, 3); Mar. 28, 1707 (Ordinances of the City of N. Y., 1707, 
11); May 28, 1712 (Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., Ill, 3). 

3 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y, III, 392. Sept. 1, 1726. "THE OATH OF 
A FREEMAN OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK YE SHALL SWEAR that Ye 
Shall be good and true to our sovereign Lord King George. . . . The Franchises 
and Customs (of this city) Ye Shall Maintain. ... Ye shall take no Apprentice for 
a less Term than for seven Years without fraud or deceit, and within the first 
year ye Shall Cause him to be Enrolled or Else pay such fine as Shall be reason- 
able Imposed upon you for Omitting the same, and after his Term Ends ye Shall 
make him free of this City if he have well and truly served you. ... All these Points 
and Articles ye Shall well and truly keep According to the Laws and Customs of 
this City. So help you God." (Compare the Oath of Freemen of 1275, Chapter 
I, p. 2. Phraseology almost identical.) 



in Colonial New England and New York 77 

Church Wardens bound out poor-children to some "Mer- 
chant or handy Craft Tradesman." Many poor girls were, 
of course, bound out to " Dames," but these women prom- 
ised to teach their apprentices some " useful" occupation. 

It will be noted that the Order of 1694 did not mention 
a fine as the penalty for non-compliance with the registra- 
tion requirements. Complaints of violations were heard 
before the Mayor's Court, which usually freed the apprentices 
concerned. Such a case came before "a Court of Record 
held at the City Hall of the said City on Tuesday the first 
day of June Anno Dom. 1725," which decreed that "John 
Aspinwall Apprentice to Jde Meyer Shoemaker is dis- 
charged from his Apprenticeship his Indentures not being 
Acknowledged, made or Registered According to the Laws 
of this Corporation." 4 

The law also required a registration fee to be paid by 
the master upon enrolling an indenture. This practice 
dates from the thirteenth century in England. We find its 
counter-part in the early gild and municipal requirement of 
an entry fee. The available records of the New England 
colonies do not indicate whether such a requirement was in 
force there. 

The usual term of apprenticeship, according to English legis- 
lation, was seven years, and it must not be completed until 
the apprentice was twenty-one years of age. In the Province 
of New York, however, the Common Council Act of 1694 
permitted four-year terms, which action was, in effect, an 
annulment of the law of the mother-country. Such a law 
also operated in contravention to the primary purpose of the 
apprenticeship system, the production of skilled craftsmen. 
But early in the next century it was recognised by the city 
authorities that the four-year term was inadequate; the 
average apprentice could not successfully learn a trade in 
so short a period. "Att a Common Council held at the 
City Hall of the said City on Tuesday the 30th day of Oc- 
tober, Anno Dom 17 11," the earlier law was repealed, 

4 Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 26, 1724, to June, 1729. 



78 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

and the time-honored seven-year term insisted upon. The 
Act follows: 

Forasmuch as Great Inconveniencys have Arisen by Apprentices serving 
but four years by Reason whereof they are seldom Masters of their Trades 
for remedy whereof Be it Ordained by the Mayor Recorder Aldermen 
and assistants of the City of New York convened in Common Council 
and it is hereby Ordained by the Authority of the same that from hence- 
forth no Merchant Shopkeeper or Handy Craft Tradesman Shall take 
any Apprentice to teach or instruct in their trade or Calling without be- 
ing bound by an Indenture before the Mayor Recorder or any one of 
the Aldermen of the said City and Registered in the Town Clerks Office 
and not for a less Term than seaven years; and at the Expiration of the 
said Indenture the said Apprentice shall be made free of the said City 
by the Master if he have well and truely served him and the Clerk Shall 
have for Registering each Indenture of Apprenticeship the Sum of three 
Shillings to be paid by the Master of such Apprentice bound as aforesaid 
and that all Indentures of Apprenticeship hereafter to be made within 
this City Contrary to the true Intent and Meaning hereof shall be void 
and of None Effect ; any former Law of this Corporation to the Contrary 
hereof in any wise Notwithstanding. 5 

Furthermore all masters were required, in "The Oath of 
Freemen," to swear that "Ye shall take no apprentice for 
a less Term than for seven years." 6 Not only were the four- 
year apprentices "seldom Masters of their Trades," but, 
in the phraseology of a similar Boston Act of 1660, they were 
unable "att the expiration of their Apprenticeship to take 
charge of others for government and manuall instruction in 
their occupation which, if not timely amended, threatens 
the welfare of this Town." 7 

Although girl-apprentices were not referred to in this 
Order, we know that they were required to serve until 
eighteen years of age or until they were married. This is 
borne out by the evidence of the indentures of apprenticeship, 
which will be considered in a later chapter, the Mayor's 

5 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., II, 454-55. 

Repeated Dec. 1, 1719 (Ibid., II, 467); Sept. 1, 1726 (Ibid., II, 475). 

6 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., Ill, 392. Sept. 1, 1726. 

7 Boston Records, II, 157. 



in Colonial New England and New York 79 

Court Minutes referred to above, 8 and the Poor Laws of 
i747> 1754, 1763, i7 6 8, 1772, 1773, 1775. 9 A similar re- 
quirement had been in force for some time in the New 
England colonies. 

Naturally during a period of seven years, at least, mis- 
understandings and actual conflicts arose between master and 
apprentice. Custom, and the parent-to-child relationship 
permitted masters to chastise unruly apprentices but, as in 
New England, the public authorities preferred to deal with 
cases of incorrigibility. Masters might complain to the 
Overseers, and these officers were empowered to administer 
the punishment provided by law. Such punishment usually 
consisted of a whipping. The Duke of York's Laws (1665) 
contained the following enactment on this point: 

If any Children or Servants become rude Stubborne or unruly refus- 
ing to hearken to the voice of their Parents or Masters the Constable 
and Overseers (where no Justice of the Peace shall happen to dwell 
within ten miles of the said Town or Parish) have power upon the com- 
plaint of their Parents or Masters to call before them such Offender, 
and to Inflict such Corporall . punishment as the merrit of their fact in 
their Judgment shall deserve, not exceeding ten Stripes, provided that 
such children and Servants be of Sixteen years of age. 10 

An interesting record of two centuries later indicates that 
the master was permitted to whip an apprentice " severely." 
Such punishment was justifiable on the ground that the 
"master was bound to preserve the same course towards his 
apprentice as a father towards his son." An article in the 
"New York and Richmond County Free Press, Dec. 21, 
1833, presents the public attitude toward the matter. The 
item follows: 

"Master and Apprentice" 

The following is the substance of a trial which took place in New 
York on Tuesday week, in reference to a question which from time to 
time, causes considerable discussion as to the control which masters 

8 Page 68, notes 6 and 7. 9 Page 73, note 18. 

10 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 26. 



80 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

possess over apprentices, and the relative position in which they stand 
toward each other. The Commercial Advertiser of Wednesday says — 

In the sessions a cause was tried which involved a principle of much 
interest to the community. Levi Chapman, a pocket-book maker, 
doing an extensive business in William street, was placed on trial for 
severely whipping an apprentice, named Isaac Wilson, a boy about 17 
years of age, who had lived with the defendant two or three years. 

(A lengthy account of the evidence follows.) 

It was due to the whole community that the case should be made 
public, and that apprentices should be made to understand their duties. 
The Recorder charged the Jury that a master was bound to preserve the 
same course towards his apprentice, as a father towards his son — that 
in the present the disobedience and threats of the apprentice were highly 
reprehensible; and that, for himself, if his own son had pursued a course 
as the boy Wilson had done, he should have chastised and brought him 
to obedience. 11 

But the colonists made a distinction between ''severely 
whipping," and ''unreasonable Correcting." If an ap- 
prentice were unduly punished his complaint might be taken 
to court, and, if it were proved, he was discharged from his 
apprenticeship. The Code of 1665 provided 

If any Masters or Dames shall Tyrannically and Cruelly abuse their 
Servants, upon complaint made by the Servant to the Constable and 
Overseers, they shall take Speedy redress therein, by Admonishing the 
Master or Dame not to provoke their Servants, And upon the Servants 
Second Complaint, of the like usage, It shall be lawful for the Constable 
and Overseers to protect and Sustaine such Servants in their Houses till 
due Order be taken for their Reliefe in the ensuing Sessions provided that 
due Notice thereof be Speedily given to Such Masters or Dames, and 
the Cause why such Servants are protected and Sustained, and in Case 
any Master or Dame by such Tyranny and Cruelty, and not Casually, 
shall smite out the Eye or Tooth of Any such Servant after due proof 
made shall be sett free from their Service, And have a further allowance 
and recompence as the Court of Sessions shall judge meet. 12 

11 New York and Richmond County Free Press, Dec. 21, 1833. 

12 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 48. 

Repeated by Act of Oct. 24, 1684 (Ibid., 1, 157); and Act of Dec. 19 ,1766: "may 
be relieved and discharged for Missusage, Refusal of Necessaries Cruelty or 111 
treatment in the manner Apprentices are relievable in England for any of the 
Causes aforesaid." (Ibid., IV, 924.) Until such cases were settled the Overseers 
were often obliged to "Sustaine such Servants in their Houses." 



in Colonial New England and New York 81 

The Minutes of the Mayor's Court, and the Records of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions contain many records of the enforce- 
ment of this legislation. At a "Court of Record of the Citty, 
holden att the Citty Hall within the Citty, the 13th day of 
May 1681," a case of violation was brought up, and the master 
was admonished according to the law. The decree follows: 

Deft pleades that ye Servt was his Sonne & by reason of ye pits ill 
usage towards him by unreasonable Correction he would not live with 
him & therefore came to the Deft his father where he now is. Mr. Beeke- 
man informed ye Court of ye matter haveing been examined before him. 
The Court Orders that ye Servt return to his Mastr & serve his time 
agreed on according to Indenture if ye pit for ye future shall give him 
any undue & unreasonable Correction or usage then ye Servt to be freed, 
ye pit to paie Costs. 13 

In another instance the apprentice was actually freed from 
his master. The record follows: 

Att a Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace held for the 
City and County of New York at the City Hall on Wednesday the fourth 
day May Anno Dom. 1731. 

Upon Complaint of Samuell Magee of the City of New York Cord- 
wainer that Thomas Hall of the said City Cordwainer hath several times 
very immoderately corrected his son Alexander Magee an Apprentice 
to the said Thomas Hall without just occasion & prayeth the Court 
that his said son Alexander Magee be discharged from his Apprentice- 
ship for the causes aforesd, & upon hearing of the Parties & seeing the 
marks upon the head, Arm and body of the said Alexander Magee of the 
said immoderate Correcting it is Ordered by the said Court that the said 
Alexander Magee is hereby discharged from his said Apprenticeship. 14 

13 Mayors Court, Rough Minutes, Nov. 1680 to Oct. 1683. Manuscript folio 
volume. Pages not numbered. Items entered chronologically. 

14 Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions & of the Court of Sessions, May 
1722 to Nov. 1742. Manuscript folio volume. Pages not numbered. 

Ibid., Feb. 5, 1725: "upon hearing of a Complaint of Mary Anderson Widow 
agt Benjamin Bake Cordwainer for unreasonable Correcting her Daughter Mar- 
garet his Apprentice aged about Eleven years & very often Immoderately Correct- 
ting her & not allowing her reasonable time to rest several times in the Night 
time it is Ordered by the Court for the Causes aforseaid that the said Margaret 
Anderson by the Court be discharged from her said Apprenticeship." 

Minutes of Mayors Court, Jan. 26, 1724 to June 1729. July 19, 1726: boy 
discharged from his apprenticeship on complaint against his master "for Immod- 
erately Correcting him." 



82 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Discharged apprentices were bound out to other masters, 
in compliance with the law which required that all children 
not of independent estate be brought up in some " honest 
lawful" calling. 

The same legislation made provision for " Refusal of Neces- 
saries," and " after due proof made," apprentices who were 
denied " sufficient meat, drink and lodging," were set free. 
A case in point appears in a Long Island record of Nov. 2, 

1738. 

Queens County YSs Whereas Caleb Cornall Joseph Thorne Thomas 
Cornall Hennery Allyn four of his Majestys Justices of the Peace Whereof 
one is of ye Quorum for ye County afore Said having heard and Examined 
ye Matter in Differance between Joseph Dodge an apprentice to Jere- 
miah Dodge hath not allowed his Apprintice Sufficient Meat We Do 
therefore for ye Cause afore said Discharge ye Said Joseph Dodge from 
his said Apprentice ship and Do hereby Under our Respective hands 
and Seals pronounce and Declare that ye Said Joseph Dodge is Discharged 
from his being any Longer an Apprintice to his said Master. As Wit- 
ness our hands and Seals this 2th day of November 1738. 15 

Apprentices who ran away from their masters were, if 
apprehended and brought back, obliged to serve "double the 
time of such their absence." Under the title "Fugitives," 
the Duke of York's Laws contained the following Order: 

Every Apprentice and Servant that shall depart or absent themselves 
from their Master or Dame without leave first obtained shall be Ad- 
judged by the Court to double the time of such their absence by future 
Service over and above other Damage and Cost which the Master 
or Dame shall Sustain by such unlawful departure. 16 

If necessary, in order to bring back runaways, "Every 
Justice of the Peace or any Constable with two Overseers 
where no Justice is at hand," had the "power to press Men, 
Horses, Boats, or Pinnaces, at Publique Charge, to pursue 
such persons both by Sea and Land and to bring them back 
by force of Armes." 17 It is doubtful whether such extreme 

15 Recs. of the Towns of North and South Hempstead, Long Island, III, 219. 

16 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 36. Repeated Oct. 22, 1684 {Ibid., I, 147). 

17 Ibid., 1,48. 



in Colonial New England and New York 83 

means were often employed. Usually, at a later date when 
newspapers appeared, the master advertised his loss, and 
offered a reward for the return of his apprentice. 18 

As a further check, all persons were strictly forbidden to 
" harbour or entertain" runaway apprentices. The Code of 
1665 is very definite on this point. 

whosoever shall be proved to have Transported, or to have Contrived 
the Transportation of any such Apprentice or Servant shall forfeit twenty 
pounds to the Court, and evry Inhabitant that shall harbour or enter- 
tain any such Apprentice or Servant, knowing that he had absented 
himself from his Service, upon due proof thereof shall forfeit to the Mas- 
ter or Dame ten shillings for every Days entertainment or Concealment. 19 

At that date a fine of ten shillings was more or less severe, 
and it must have operated to reduce the number of such 
violations. A rather unique newspaper item of 1833 ex- 
hibits the practice of this legislation. The article reads: 

A Case in Point — Not long since, a man of the West was prosecuted 
for employing a Runaway Apprentice, and $100 recovered together with 
cost of suit which when added to the fee paid his lawyer, and his own 
personal expenses, amounted, perhaps to the comfortable sum one of 
hundred and fifty dollars more. 

The usual caution was observed by advertising the runaway in the 
local Newspaper — but the defendant had never taken a Newspaper, 
and did not know that he was obliged to take one. His wife had sub- 
scribed for the New York Observer, and did not believe that the Adver- 
tisement was in that. This is as it should be — ignorance, parsimony, 
and folly should be punished. — Sag Harbor Corrector. 20 

Upon completion of the term of service the apprentice 
was permitted to follow his trade or calling as a master 

18 The Daily Advertiser, New York, Friday, Dec. 19, 1788. "Eight Dollars 
Reward — Ran away on Thursday night last, from the Ship Pitt, William Dodds 
master, lying near the New Slip, two Apprentice Boys, one named Geo. Robinson, 
about 17 or 18 years of age: the other Henry Watt, about 15 years of age." 

Diary and Mercantile Advertiser, New York, Wednesday Evening, July 19, 
1 79 1. "Five Dollars Reward — Ran away on Thursday, 13th July, an apprentice 
boy, by the name of George Warner (detailed description follows) . . . Andrew 
Anderson, cabinet-maker." 

19 Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 36. Repeated Oct. 24, 1684 (Ibid., I, 157). 

20 New York and Richmond County Free Press, Dec. 21, 1833. 



84 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

" handy Craft" man. The authorities insisted, however, 
that "he have well and truely Served" his master, or in 
other words, that he had served a successful apprentice- 
ship. The Duke of York's Laws strictly forbade apprentices 
"to give sell or truck any Commodity whatsoever dureing 
the time of theire Service, under penalty of a fine or Corporal 
punishment, by warrant under the hands of two Justices of 
the Peace, as the Offence shall meritt." 21 This prohibition 
operated not only to keep out of the market wares of im- 
perfect quality, which the apprentices might have made, and 
to protect master craftsmen from the competition of the un- 
skilled, but also to produce skilled workmen, by insisting 
that the period of apprenticeship be spent in learning their 
trades. It will be recalled that these restrictions were factors 
of the early English practice of apprenticeship. 22 

At the same time the apprentice was "made free of the 
said Citty," i.e., he became a citizen with the right to vote 
and hold office. No one but "Free Cittyzens" were per- 
mitted "to use or exercise Any Art, trade, Mystery or 
Manual Occupation or . . . sell . . . Any Manner of Mer- 
chandize or Wares whatsoever." 23 Since the thirteenth 
century in England apprenticeship had been a qualification 

21 Repeated Oct. 24, 1684 (Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 157). 

22 Cal. Let. Bk. D, 106, 104, 122, 149, 150, 152, 154, 157. 161, 170, 178. Cf. 
New Eng. 

23 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., I, 302. 
Ibid., I, 10. Order of Jan. 20, 1675. 

Ibid., I, 103. This was one of the "seuerall antient Customes . . . granted 
. . . undr his Royall Highness Anno 1665." 

Ibid., I, 137. "Lawes and Ordors" of Mar. 16, 1683. 

Ibid., I, 222, 246; II, 198. Orders of Apr. 24, 1691; Oct. 15, 1691; July n, 
1702. 

Mayors Court Minutes, Nov. 13, 1674 to Apr. 24, 1691. "Att a Court Meet- 
ing held in New Yorke the 5th June in the 27th Yeare of his Matis reigne 1675: 
The Court having taken into their Consideracon the great inconveniencys of 
Strangers who come here and openly sell and retayle their goods wares and Mer- 
chandize and exercise their trades and handicrafts without taking notice of ye 
Corporation or obtayning the Privilege of freedom of this Citty according to former 
Order and Custome as well heere as in other places ordered all such persons to 
come and address themselves to ye Court and qualify for admission." 



in Colonial New England and New York 85 

of admission into the franchise. 24 As in medieval England 
there were three methods of obtaining the franchise in the 
Province of New York: birth, apprenticeship, and redemp- 
tion. A Common Council of Nov. 9, 1762 ordered that 
"All and every person or persons hereafter to be made free 
of this city who were not born within this city, or served a 
regular apprenticeship of seven years within the same shall 
pay for the freedom therefore as followeth." 25 But "such 
as are not able to pay for the same shall be made free 
Gratis." 26 

Let us turn now to a review of the educational aspects of 
the legislation just considered. There were only two colonial 
laws that mentioned the education to be given to apprentices. 
The first is contained in the Duke of York's Laws of 1665, 
and the second is a New York City Common Council Order 
of 1736. Consideration should also be given a State Act of 
1788 which repeated part of the requirements of the colonial 
period, and made it general in application. 

The Duke of York's Laws required the instruction of all 
' Children and Servants in matters of Religion and the Lawes 
of the Country And that Parents and Masters do bring up 
their Children and Apprentices in some honest and Lawful 
Calling Labour and Employment. " It will be noted, at 
this point, that the pauper- apprentices of the Province of 
New York received not only the "meat drink and lodging," 
required by the English Poor Law of 1601, but also a certain 
amount of " learning," and trade training. This aspect of 
the Code of 1665 wn ^ recall the Massachusetts Bay Act of 
1642, the New Plymouth Act of 1671, and the Connecticut 
Code of 1650. Each insisted upon the same requirement — 

24 Chapter I, p. 5. 

25 Appendix to Roll of Freemen, 1695-1774 (N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1885, 533). 
Repeated Dec. 2, 1773 {Ibid., 556); Mar. 9, 1784 (Roll of Freemen 1675-1866. 
N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1885, 239); Mar. 29, 1786 {Ibid., 274); May 1, 1797 {Ibid., 
294); Apr. 27, 1801 {Ibid., 298); Mar. 8, 1815 {Ibid., 399), the last adoption of 
this law. 

26 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., II, 197. Order of June 27, 1702. Repeated 
July 11, 1702 {Ibid., II, 199). 



86 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

" Religion," "Laws," and "some honest and Lawful Calling 
Labour and Employment." But, in addition, the New 
England Laws specifically required that all children and ap- 
prentices be taught to read. Furthermore they provided the 
means for the enforcement of this requirement, by ordering 
that all children whose education had been neglected should 
be apprenticed to masters " which will more strictly educate 
and govern them according to the rules of this Order." 
Apprentices whose education had been neglected were taken 
away from their masters, and placed with others. While 
this section of the Duke of York's Laws was a compulsory 
education law, it did not refer specifically to the apprentice- 
ship system as the means of enforcement. It may be in- 
ferred, however, that this use was intended; the framers of 
the 1665 Code could not have overlooked this important 
aspect of the New England practice. 

Until 1736 the only "learning" required by law for "all 
Children and Apprentices" in colonial New York, consisted 
of "Religion and the Lawes of the Country." On March 
31 of that year a Common Council of New York City made 
the following Order: 

That such parish Children as may be hereafter sent to the poorhouse 
for Maintainance, that Care be taken by the Master there of (by the 
direction of the Church Wardens and Overseers of the Poor) that they be 
religiously educated and taught to read, write, and cast accounts} 1 

This Order concerned poor-children, but it must not be 
supposed that they remained very long in the poor-house. 
That institution was primarily for the maintenance of the 
adult poor. For the children of poor parents it was a more 
or less temporary refuge, and they remained there only until 
the Overseers or Church Wardens could find masters for 
them. This was never very long; the records of the binding 
out of poor-children reveal the fact that many were bound out 
at a very early age. Hence the education received in the 
poor-house did not go very far into the fields of reading, 

27 Min. Com. Coun. City of N. Y., IV, 309. 



in Colonial New England and New York 87 

writing, and casting accounts. But the Order has this 
significance: it indicates the elementary education require- 
ment of the time for poor-children, at least. And, as we shall 
see after examining the indentures of apprenticeship, all 
apprentices received a certain amount of " learning" beyond 
"Religion and the Lawes of the Country." 

On March 7, 1788, the State of New York passed an "Act 
for the better settlement and relief of the Poor," which con- 
tained the following provision for the education of poor- 
apprentices : 

And be it further enacted. . . . That all indentures and contracts to 
be made by any overseers of the poor of any city or town, by and with the 
consent of the Justices of the Peace of the County, or any two of them, 
or by and with the consent of the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, or 
any two of them, in any city, for binding out any child as an apprentice 
or servant, shall among the covenants in such indentures or contracts 
to be made and agreed upon between the parties, always insert a clause 
to the following effect, "That every Master and Mistress to whom such 
child shall be bound as aforesaid, shall cause such child to be taught and in- 
structed to read and write." And further That the overseers of the poor 
for the time being, of each respective city or town shall be guardians of 
every such child so put and bound out as aforesaid, to take care that the 
terms of the indentures or contracts and the covenants or agreements 
therein contained be performed and fulfilled, and that such child be not 
ill used; and the overseers of the poor are hereby empowered and di- 
rected to enquire into the same, and to redress any grievance or griev- 
ances in such manner as is prescribed by law. 28 

Prior to this Act there was no general New York legisla- 
tion that provided for the kind of education to be given to 
poor- apprentices. But we shall find in actual practice as 
revealed by the indentures that these requirements were in 
force from the date of the English occupation, and that they 
extended to both classes of apprentices. 

28 Laws of N. Y., nth Session, 1788, 130. 



CHAPTER VII 

APPRENTICESHIP AND APPRENTICESHIP EDUCA- 
TION IN THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK AS 
REVEALED BY INDENTURES OF APPREN- 
TICESHIP 

The indenture is the most valuable of apprenticeship 
records because it sums up the more or less fragmentary 
account of the practice revealed by legislation and court 
records. This chapter, which is based on manuscript sources, 
will present the characteristics of the actual practice, and the 
educational aspects of the apprenticeship system. For this 
purpose a great number of indentures will be examined, and 
the validity of the conclusions will be proportionate to the 
cumulative effect of the evidence submitted. 

The typical indenture of the Province of New York may 
be represented by the following New York City indenture 
of May 14, 1705: 

This Indenture Witnesseth that Thomas Hill about twelve years of 
Age with the Consent of William Hollins his father in Law hath put 
himselfe and by these presents doth voluntarily and of his own free will 
and accord put himselfe Apprentice unto Christopher Giliard, Cord- 
wainer in the City of New York in America for the space and Term of 
seaven years Commencing from the date hereof and after the manner of 
an Apprentice to serve from the Fourteenth day of May one thousand 
seaven hundred and five untill the full Term of seaven years be Com- 
pleat and Ended during all which Term the said Apprentice his said Mas- 
ter and Mistress during the aforesaid Term in the Cordwainer's Trade 
faithfully shall serve his secrets keep his lawful Commands gladly Every 
where Obey he shall doe no damage to his said Master nor see to be done 
by Others without letting or giving Notice thereof to his said Master he 
shall not waste his said Master's goods nor lend them unlawfully to 
any, he shall not Committ Fornication nor Contract Matrimony within 
the said Term att Cards, Dice or any other unlawfull Game he shall 
not play whereby his said Master may have damage with his own goods 
nor the goods of others during the said Term without Lycense from his 
said Master he shall neither buy nor sell he shall not absent himselfe 



in Colonial New England and New York 89 

day nor night from his Master's service without his leave nor haunt 
Ale houses, Taverns or Playhouses but in all things as a faithful Appren- 
tice he shall behave himselfe toward his said Master and all his During 
the said Term and the said Master during the said Term shall find and 
provide unto the said Apprentice sufficient meat drinke Apparell Lodg- 
ing and washing fitting for an Apprentice and after the Expiration of 
the Said Term of seaven years to give unto his said Apprentice two new 
suits of Apparell the one for working days the other for Sundays and holy 
days and to Instruct and teach his said Apprentice in seaven years to 
read and write English and in the Cordwainer's Trade according to his 
Ability and for the true performance of all and every the said Covenants 
and Agreement either of the said parties bind themselves to the other by 
these presents. In Witness whereof they have interchangeably put their 
hands and seals this fourteenth day of May in the third Year of the Reign 
of our sovereign Lady Anne by the Grace of God Queen of England, 
Scotland and France and Ireland etc: Anno Domini one thousand seaven 
hundred and five Thomas Hill sealed signed and delivered in the pres- 
ence of us John Sheppard David Vilant New Yorke May ye 14th 1705 
Acknowledged by the within named Thomas Hill to be his voluntary 
Act and Deed. (Signed) William Peartree, Mayor. 1 

This indenture is almost identical in phraseology with some 
two hundred others examined in this study. 

The striking similarity with the earliest English indentures, 
and with those of New England, will be noted at once. With 
a few minor changes in phraseology, to conform to the con- 
ditions of the particular instance, the same obligations are 
assumed by each party to the contract. The apprentice 
bound himself to serve his master "Seaven years," promised 
to keep his secrets, obey his " Lawful Commands," and "in 
all things as a faithful Apprentice he shall behave himself." 
In return the master promised to "find and provide unto 
the said Apprentice" proper maintenance, teach him his trade, 
and at the end of the term to give him the customary two 
suits of "Apparell." 2 In this instance the master also 

1 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures of Apprenticeship begun February 19, 1694 
and ends Jan. ye 29th 1707, p. 135. 

2 The Duke of York's Laws (1665) required that "All Servants who have served 
Diligently, and faithfully to the benefit of their Masters and Dames five or Seaven 
yeares, shall not be Sent empty away." (Col. Laws of N. Y., I, 48) Compare 
Mass. Body of Liberties of 1641. 



90 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

promised to teach his apprentice to read and write. As in- 
dicated in the treatment of the New England colonies this as- 
pect of the practice of apprenticeship was peculiarly American. 

Earlier English legislation, and the laws of the Province 
of New York insisted upon the registration of all indentures 
"in the Town Clerkes Office." In compliance with this re- 
quirement the indenture before us was enrolled at the City 
Hall, and signed by the Mayor. All the indentures ex- 
amined were properly witnessed, and registered with Town 
Clerks, Aldermen, Justices, or other public officers. The 
writer found only one case of violation of this requirement. 3 

The terms of the indentures of poor-children were similar 
to those of voluntary apprentices. But poor-apprentices 
were bound out by Overseers of the Poor, or Church Wardens, 
with the "Consent and Approbation" of a "Head Officer." 
Consequently those officers became parties to the contract, 
and it was necessary to change the form of the indenture to 
include their names. The following indenture of this class 
represents the type: 

This Indenture Witnesses that Isaac Kip & Gerrett Viele Church 
Wardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Citty of New Yorke by and 
with the Consent and Approbation of Isaac D: Riemer Esqr Mayor of 
the said Citty have by these presents placed and bound William Reade 
a poor fatherless and Motherless Child aged five years unto Robert Nis- 
bett, Taylor . . . untill he the said William Reade Shall Come to the full 
age of twenty one years According to the Statute in that Case made and 
Provided . . . (usual form) . . . perfectly to Read and write the English 
tongue. 4 

The usual term of service in accordance with "the Custome 
& practice of his Majestys Realm in England, and all the 

3 Page 77. 

4 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 68. Dated Sept. 8, 1701. 
Ibid., 66. Sept. 8, 1701. 

East Hampton Town Records, I, 289. Aug. 26, 1668. This is one of the 
earliest indentures of poor-children in the Province of New York. 

Flushing Town Records, 1 790-1833. Manuscript folio volume. See inden- 
tures of poor-apprentices, dating from 1806 to 181 7, on pages 16, 59, 62, 67, 69, 71, 
73, 75, 77, 80, 83, 85, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 104, 109, 114. 



in Colonial New England and New York 91 

Adjacent Colonys in America," was seven years. But it 
will be recalled that a New York City Common Council Act 
of 1694 permitted four-year terms. Terms as short as three 
and four years occur occasionally before that date. The 
majority, however, are for seven years, or until twenty-one. 
In 17 1 1 a New York City Act required the full seven-year 
period for all apprentices, and from that time there were but 
few violations. From 1666 to 1817, 180 out of 220 indentures 
show compliance with custom in this matter. 

Not only were masters required to provide proper mainte- 
nance, but the Duke of York's Laws insisted that "Parents 
and Masters do bring up their Children and apprentices in 
some honest and Lawful Calling Labour or Employment." 
The Massachusetts Bay Act of 1642, the New Plymouth Act 
of 167 1, and the Connecticut Code of 1650 contained the 
same emphasis upon "honest and Lawfull" callings. Useless 
occupations which would not be "profitable to the Common- 
wealth," or to the apprentice, were not to be tolerated. 
Voluntary apprentices received trade training as a matter of 
routine; they apprenticed themselves for that purpose. If 
the master defaulted in that regard his apprentice was re- 
leased from his indenture. Poor-apprentices were not so 
well taken care of by the Poor Law of 1601, but the colonial 
laws included them in their general enactments concerning 
the bringing up of children. In every indenture of the 
Province and State of New York in which a poor-boy or 
girl was bound out, trade training was specified among the 
articles of agreement between master and apprentice. 

The indentures show that apprentices were taught such 
trades as: baker, barber and wig-maker, blacksmith, block- 
maker, boatman, brasier, carpenter, cooper, cordwainer, 
currier, farmer, feltmaker, glasier, glover, goldsmith, gun- 
smith, hatter, innholder, joiner, leather-dresser, mariner, 
mason, merchant, painter, pewterer, pipemaker, printer, 
saddler, sailmaker, seamstress, shipwright, silversmith, skin- 
ner, tailor, turner, weaver, wheelwright. Girls were usually 
taught housewifery, which included "to sew plaine work," 



92 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

and "spinning and knitting"; occasionally they learned the 
tailor's and glovemaker's trades. The trades enumerated 
represent fairly well the field of industrial occupation in 
colonial New York. During the colonial period apprentice- 
ship was also the means of entering the professions of law 
and medicine. In some instances the schoolmaster may have 
served an apprenticeship as a preparation for his calling. 
The following indenture might be of interest at this point: 

Registered for Mr. George Brownell Schoolmaster ye 18th day of July 
1722. 

This Indenture Witnesseth that John Campbel Son of Robert Camp- 
bell of the City of New York with the Consent of his father and mother 
hath put himself and by these presents doth Voluntarily put and bind 
himself Apprentice to George Brownell of the Same City Schoolmaster 
to learn the Art Trade or Mystery . . . for and during the term of ten 
years. . . . And the said George Brownell Doth hereby Covenant and 
Promise to teach and Instruct or Cause the said Apprentice to be taught 
and Instructed in the Art Trade or Calling of a Schoolmaster by the 
best way or means he or his wife may or can. 5 

In addition to the requirement that all children and ap- 
prentices be taught trades, the Code of 1665 demanded that 
they be given a certain amount of " learning." This, to use 
the words of the Code, consisted of " Religion and the Lawes 
of the Country." The New England Acts added reading to 
this rather limited educational requirement, but the framers 
of the Duke of York's Laws appear to have overlooked the 
need of this rudiment. And New York legislation made no 
reference to a more comprehensive elementary education 
until 1736, and that was an Act providing for poor-children. 6 

In actual practice we find that the New York apprentice re- 
ceived an education equal to that which the New England ap- 
prentice enjoyed. One of the earliest indentures of the Province 
of New York, dated April 16, 1666, contains the covenant of the 
master to teach his apprentice " reading and wrighting." 7 This 
provision remained the most popular throughout the colonial 

5 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 145-47- 6 Pa S e 86 ' 

7 Newtown Town Records, 1663-1695, 159. Manuscript. 



in Colonial New England and New York 93 

period. 8 In some instances the apprentice was taught only to 
read, 9 or write, 10 or cypher; u in others he received reading and 
cyphering, 12 or writing and cyphering. 13 The most complete 
education given to apprentices consisted of reading, writing, 
and cyphering. 14 Girls received instruction in reading, 15 or read- 
ing and writing. 16 The records do not reveal a single instance 
in which a girl was taught to cypher, or "cast accounts." 

The question now arises: where was the apprentice taught 
to "read and writt," or to "Read right and Syfer" ? Accord- 

8 The following indentures of 1683-1729 provide for reading and writing: 
Records of the Town of Easthampton, II, 131, 133; Westchester Town Records, 
1664-1696 (Manuscript), 160, 161, 165, 167, 249; Westchester Records, 1707-1720 
(Manuscript), 252, 262; Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 12, 39, 52, 61, 66, 68, no, 
112, 113, 119, 135, 145, 147; Liber 29, 5, 44, 55, 59, 69, 73, 83, 117, 119, 164, 178, 
192, 206, 212, 234, 296, 329, 353; First Book of the Supervisors of Dutchess County, 
19; Records of North and South Hempstead, III, 51; Mayors Court Minutes, 
Jan. 26, 1724 to June 1729, action dated Dec. 24, 1729. This provision continues 
in the early state period. See the following indentures of 1806-1817, in Flushing 
Town Records, 1790-1833 (Manuscript), 16, 59, 62, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 80, 
83, 86, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 104, 109, 114. 

9 Harlem Records, II, 543 (Manuscript). Indenture of Oct. 14, 1700. See 
indenture of Feb. 18, 1763, in Huntington Town Records, II, 454. 

10 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 54. Indenture of Aug. 12, 1700. 

11 Flushing Town Records, 1790-1833. Indenture of Jan. 4, 1817. 

12 Newtown Records, 1714-1753, 24. Indenture of July 12, 1713. 

13 See the following indentures of 1701-1723: Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 
82, 94, 100; Liber 29, 32, 34, 36, 97, 102, 142, 147, 152, 154, 193. 

14 See the following indentures of 1 700-1 740: Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 
46, 98, 105, 144, 157; Liber 29, 4, 76, 80, 170, 176, 190, 197, 216, 225, 229, 241, 
256, 266, 276, 278, 280, 282, 305, 311, 314, 321, 324, 354; Westchester Records, 
1707-1720, 254I; Westchester Records, 1711-1730 (Manuscript. Pages not 
numbered); Newtown Records, 1714-1753, 101; Huntington Town Records, II, 
494, 518; Records of North and South Hempstead, III, 241; Mayors Court 
Minutes, May 1722 to May 1742, action dated May 6, 1735. See also indentures 
of 1816 and 1817, in Flushing Town Records, 1790-1833, 104, 109. 

15 See the following indentures of 1680-1726: Huntington Town Records, I, 275; 
Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 22, 31, 58, 86, 97; Newtown Records, 1700-1714 
(Manuscript), 178; Westchester Records, 1707-1720, 242!, 253 (Manuscript); 
Jamaica Town Records, III, 1706-1749, 299; Liber 29, 75, 174, 204, 218, 263, 
292, 341. 

16 See the following indentures of 1683-17 25: Records of the Town of East- 
hampton, II, 131; Liber 29, 64, 72, 137, 273, 329. See also indentures of 1806- 
1817, in Flushing Town Records, 1790-1833: 59, 65, 75, 80, 86, 89, 91, 93, 97, 
99, 101, 114. 



94 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

ing to the indenture the master promised to " teach or cause 
him to be taught." But many masters were illiterate. 
This fact is borne out by the indentures of apprenticeship, 
a large number of which were signed with the masters' 
marks in lieu of signatures. In such cases masters did not 
teach their apprentices, but "caused" them "to be taught." 
This meant that many apprentices were sent to school. 

One of the earliest references to the practice of sending 
apprentices to school occurs in a Harlem indenture dated 
Nov. 25, 1690, in which the master promised that his ap- 
prentice "shall have the privelege of going to the evening 
school." 17 According to a New York City indenture of 
Oct. 1, 1698, the apprentice was to be given "his winter's 
schooling." 18 From indentures of a later date we learn that 
the evening school was kept in the winter. An indenture 
of Nov. 18, 1701, contains the provision: "in the Evenings 
to go to School Each Winter to the End he may be taught to 
write and read." 19 In some instances the master promised 
to give his apprentice "One Quarter of a year's Schooling," 20 
in others "Every winter three Months Evening Schooling." 21 
An indenture dated Jan. 20, 1720, combines the two pre- 
ceding provisions into "a Quarter or three Months Schooling 
in every Winter." 22 And the particular three months, or 
quarter, during which the evening school was held is in- 
dicated in an indenture of Feb. 24, 1719, in which the master 
agreed to "put him to school three Months in Every Year 
during the said apprenticeship Immediately after Christmas 
in Every Year to the Evening School to learn to Read and 

17 Harlem Records, II, 529 (Manuscript). 

18 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 47. See also Harlem Records, II, 543; Citty 
of N. Yorke Indentures, 90, 81, 155; Liber 29, 19, 7, 31, 60, 67, 73, 117, 230, for 
indentures of 1698-17 24. 

20 Ibid., 60, Indenture of Jan. 20, 1700. See also indentures of 1718-1726 in: 
Liber 29, 1, 39, 54, 14, 83, no, 123, 129, 152, 156, 181, 196, 199, 220, 227, 241, 
244, 261, 264, 266, 268, 270, 275, 284, 286, 303, 312, 314, 324, 325, 327, 354, 358. 

21 Ibid., 62, 107, 128, 143, 158; Liber 29, 3, 13, 44, 45, 55, 59, 70, 86, 90, 102, 
112, 119, 151, 158, 168, 172, 216, 232,239,242,320,349. Indentures of 1701-1726. 

22 Liber 29, 94. 



in Colonial New England and New York 95 

Write." 23 Frequently the indentures refer to these three 
months as "the usual times in the Winter Evenings," or the 
" Customary" period. 24 That the evening school was held 
only at this time is indicated by these references, and by an 
indenture of June 9, 1726, in which the apprentice is "to 
go to School during the time that is customary here to keep 
Night School." 25 

The records also reveal the fact that there was more 
than one evening school in New York City. An indenture 
of Oct. 17, 1705, contains the master's covenant "to lett 
him (the apprentice) have in Every Winter three Months 
Learning att any Evening School within this City, and to pay 
for the same." 26 Another master, in 1720, agreed to send 
his apprentice "One Quarter of a Year in Each Year of the 
said Term to a good Evening School." 27 A 1690 indenture 
mentioned above reveals the existence of an evening school 
in Harlem, which was within the jurisdiction of New York 
City. 

It may be fairly assumed that many New York apprentices 
went to evening schools. As a rule apprentices could not 
be spared during the day; they were more or less constantly 
employed by their masters. Thrifty schoolmasters keen to 
take advantage of this situation opened evening schools. 
The writer found one hundred and eight indentures which 
contained provisions for sending apprentices to evening 
schools. Of this number not one indicates that girls at- 
tended these schools. It is safe to say that they did not. 
Some few girl-apprentices did attend day-schools, however. 



23 Ibid., 55. See also Ibid., 123, indenture of July 30,1705: "to allow him 
Evening Schooling Every Winter from Christmas as is Customary"; 139, in- 
denture of Jan. 18, 1722: "Schooling in Winter Evenings from Christmas"; 
289, indenture of June 1, 1725: "Every Quarter after Christmas"; 346, inden- 
ture of May 1, 1726: "Eavening scholling from Christemis Eavery year of the 
said term." 

24 Ibid., 34, 36, 102, 212, 216, 225. Indentures of 1717-1724. 

25 Ibid., 318. 

26 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 128. 

27 Liber 29, 80. 



96 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

An indenture of June 11, 1724, contains the following pro- 
vision for a girl: "Schooling to Learn to read." 28 A certain 
number of apprentices, boys and girls, attended schools 
conducted by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
in Foreign Parts, and it is probable that the education of 
many poor-apprentices was taken care of by this society. 

The province of New York made no provision for es- 
tablishing free evening schools. These schools were privately 
conducted, and tuition-fees were charged. It was customary 
for the master to pay all charges for the instruction of his 
apprentices. Sometimes this was specifically mentioned in 
the indenture: the master " shall at his own Charge put his 
said Apprentice to School." 29 In one instance the apprentice 
was "to go to the winter Evening School at the Charge of 
his father"; 30 and in another, it was agreed that the ap- 
prentice should go to "Night School three Months in every 
Year dureing the said term his father to pay one halfe of 
Said Schooling and his Master the other halfe." 31 But these 
were exceptions; the master in most cases assumed all ex- 
penses of maintaining and educating his apprentices. 

The curriculum of the evening schools conformed to the 
educational needs of the New York apprentice. According 
to the records they offered instruction in reading, writing, 
and cyphering. The evidence of the indentures indicates 
that these subjects were taught singly, or in any combination 
desired. An indenture of Oct. 14, 1700, provides for sending 

28 Liber 29, 218. 

29 Ibid., 36. Indenture of Aug. 1, 171 7. 

Ibid., 128. Indenture of Oct. 17, 1705: master "to pay for the same"; 14. 
Indenture of Dec. 4, 1717; 5. Indenture of Sept. 1, 1718: "at the Charge of the 
said Master"; 15. Indenture of Oct. 15, 17 18; 90. Indenture of May 1, 17 19; 
32. Indenture of Aug. 1, 1719: "Masters Cost and Charge"; 158. Indenture 
of Feb. 7, 1722; 236. Indenture of Feb. 26, 1723: "at my one Cost and Charge"; 
327. Indenture of Nov. 26, 1725. 

30 Ibid., 31. 

31 Ibid., 13. 

Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 90. Indenture of Oct. 20, 1701: "the father 
shall provide and pay for two winters Nights scooling and his said Master Shall 
allow him two halfe Winters Schooling." 



in Colonial New England and New York 97 

the apprentice to the "winter school to learn to read as long 
as the school time shall last." 32 In other instances the 
apprentice was permitted "in the evenings to go to School 
Each Winter to the End that he may be taught to write 
and Read" u or to "Learn Writing and Cyphering at the 
usuall Winter Seasons." 34 The most popular provision, 
however, was: "One Quarter of a Year in Each Year of 
said Term to a good Evening School in Order to be well in- 
structed in reading writing Accounting and the like." 35 

It is interesting to note the content of the course in 
"cyphering," or arithmetic, pursued by the apprentice. A 

32 Harlem Records, II, 543. 

33 Citty of N. Yorke Indentures, 81. Indenture of Nov. 18, 1701. 
See the following indentures, in Liber 29: 

59 (Feb. 9, 1719): "three Months to School to Learn to Write and Read." 

55 (Feb. 24, 1719): "School . . . Every Year ... to learn to Read and Write." 

69 (Dec. 9, 1719): "school at Suitable Times ... to learn to Read and Write." 

83 (Apr. 26, 1720): "Schooling to Read and Write." 

119 (Nov. 18, 1720) : "Every Winter . . . Evening School ... to Read and Write." 

127 (Nov. 24, 1720): "Read and write ... in Evening School." 

117 (Feb. 1, 1721): "Evening Schooling ... to Read and write English." 

212 (July 10, 1722): "to Read and write English ... in Winter Evenings." 

34 Liber 29, 36. Indenture of Aug. 1, 1717. See the following in Liber 29: 
36 (Aug. 1, 1717): "School to Learn Writing and Cyphering." 

78 (Apr. 16, 1718): "Evening School ... to learn to write and cypher." 

34 (Aug. 6, 1 7 19): "to write and cypher at the usual times in the winter." 
102 (May 1, 1720): "School . . . Evenings to Learn Writing and Cyphering." 
193 (Sept. 1, 1723): "Night School . . . writeing and Arithmetick." 

35 Liber 29, 80. Indenture of Aug. 1, 1720. See the following in Liber 29: 
82 (Nov.*8, 1720): "Evening School . . . Reading and Writing and Arithme- 
tick." 

190 (Nov. 6, 1722): "Schooling to Read write and Arithmetick." 
241 (Jan. 31, 1723): "Evening School to Read write and Cypher." 
197 (Aug. 1, 1723): "School ... on Winter Evenings ... to Read write and 

Cypher." 

266 (Dec. 25, 1723) : "Every Winter one Quarter ... to Read writ and Cypher." 
314 (Jan. 4, 1724) : "Every Winter . . . Evenen Skool ... to Read write en syfer." 
225 (July 26, 1724) : "School ... in the Winter ... to Reade write and Cypher." 
278 (Oct. 5, 1724): "Winters to School ... to Read write and Cypher." 
229 (Oct. 26, 1724): "Winter Season ... to School ... to Reade write Cypher." 
280 (June 1, 1725): "Reading writing and Cyphering at the Cost . . . of 

Master." 

289 (June 1, 1725): "to read and write . . . every Quarter . . . and Syfer two 

Quarters." 



98 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

Westchester indenture of July 1, 17 16, makes provision for 
teaching the apprentice to "Read Write & Cast Accompts 
to so far as the Rule of three." 36 Sometimes this description 
was added to in the following manner: " Cypher as far as 
the rule of three direct inclusive." 37 The most complete 
statement of the composition of this subject occurs in a 
New York City indenture of May 20, 1720, in which the 
master agreed to provide instruction in " writing and cypher- 
ing So far as Addition Subtraction and Multiplication." 38 
In some instances the apprentice was to be taught "to Cypher 
so as to keep his Own accounts," 39 or "so far as he be able 
to keep his Booke." 40 

36 Westchester Records, 1707-1720, 254I. 

37 Flushing Town Records, 1790-1833, 104. Indenture of Oct. 31, 1816. 
Ibid., 16. Indenture of Jan. 4, 181 7: "to cypher as far as the rule of three 

direct." 

38 Liber 29, 97. 

89 Ibid., 276. Indenture of Feb. 1, 1722. 

40 Westchester Records, 1711-1730 (Pages not numbered). July 23, 1725. 
Huntington Town Records, II, 518. Indenture of Sept. 7, 1772: "to read 
write & Arethmatick so as to keep a good Book." 



CHAPTER VIII 

APPRENTICESHIP AND THE EDUCATION OF 
APPRENTICES IN THE PROVINCE OF 
NEW YORK, AS REVEALED BY WILLS 

Another source of information concerning apprentice- 
ship, and the education of apprentices in the Province of 
New York is the collection of New York wills dating from 
1665 to 1786. 1 One of the earliest wills, dated March 16, 
1669, reads as follows: 

Abraham Jossling, Nashua . . . "Being very sick" . . . Leaves to wife 
one House in Nashaway, with land thereto belonging .... To eldest 
son Abraham "One farm that Goodman Kittle lives on.". . ."And Good 
wife I would not have you remane where you are with any of my children, 
but my desire is that my children may be put out to Trades." 2 

Some wills direct that "My two sons . . . shall be bound 
out to learn some suitable trade"* or " some good trade"* 
Occasionally the executors were instructed to select the trade; 
in one instance "My two sons are to be put to learn trades 
at the discretion of my executors," 5 in another, "My son John 
... is to be put to learn a trade which my executors think 
proper." 6 In a few cases the trade was specified in the will, 

Abstracts of Wills, 1665-1786, N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1892-1908. 17 vols. 

2 Ibid., I, 14. 

Ibid., V, 198 (Dec. 6, 1750); 29 (May 18, 1754); 103 (Apr. 22, 1756); 179 
(Feb. 16, 1757); 192 (July 3, 1757); 321 (June 7, 1759); 359 (Dec. 30, 1759); 
VI, 53 (Feb. 19, 1761); 126 (Nov. 2, 1761); 142 (Jan. 25, 1762); 230 (Dec. 16, 
1762); 248 (Mar. 19, 1763). 

3 Ibid., Ill, 296 (Moriches, May 5, 1736). 
Ibid., II, 236 (East Hampton, Feb. 6, 1712). 

4 Ibid., IV, 106 (Oyster Bay, Nov. 9, 1746). 
Ibid., VI, 108 (Sept. 29, 1761); 158 (Dec. 8, 1761). 

5 Ibid., II, 365 (Southampton, Sept. 14, 1725). 

6 Ibid., IV, 384 (Hempstead, Apr. 22, 1746). 

Ibid., I, 257 (N. Y. City, Apr. 29, 1695): "putting them to such trades as they 
be thought most capable to learn"; I, 342 (N. Y. City, Aug. 3, 1702): "they 



ioo Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

as: "desiring that as soon as it is convenient she may learn 
the trade of a Tayler," 7 and " bring up my son William to 
good Common Learning, and at a fit time bind him out as 
an apprentice to a Smith." 8 The most common practice, 
however, was to leave instructions for putting a boy "to 
learn a trade as he best Likes, and likewise schooling," 9 
or "a trade that he shall reasonably choose." 10 

The children mentioned in these wills were bound out at 
a later age than the apprentices considered in the preceding 
chapter. This may account for the fact that many of them 
were permitted to learn the trades of their own selection. 
A brief inventory of the estates justifies the statement that 
the parents of these children were relatively well-to-do. 
Hence they could provide, as they did, for a longer period of 
maintenance, and bringing-up at home. A Southampton 
will dated Jan. 3, 171 1, instructs the executors "to provide 
for Uriah . . . till he is fourteen years of age and then 
he is to be put to a trade." n In other instances the 



are to be instructed in reading and writing, and an art or trade each according to 
their ability." It is probable that the executor in each of these cases exercised 
his discretion as to the "capacity" of the children to learn certain trades. 

Abstracts of Wills, VI, 220 (Dec. 25, 1762). 

7 Ibid., I, 375 (Hempstead, Apr. 2, 1702). 

s Ibid., Ill, 286 (Goshen, Feb. 9, 1739). 

9 Ibid., Ill, 2 (Kingston, May 9, 1730). 

Ibid., II, 362 (N. Y. City, July 10, 1716): "bring up the children in the fear of 
God, and allow them instruction in an art or trade or mysterie according to the 
sex and inclination of every child." 

10 Ibid., IV, 384 (Huntington, Mar. 27, 1750). 

Ibid., VI, 426 (Southold, May 30, 1765): "My sons Warren and Daniel are 
to be bound out to learn a trade which they may choose, when they are 14 years 
old." 

11 Ibid., II, 138. 

Ibid., II, 192 (Southampton, Dec. 15, 1718): "To support the children till the 
youngest is fourteen years of age, and be bound out to learn some trade." 

Ibid., V, 115 (N. Y. City): "till he is 14 years of age and then bound apprentice 
to some good trade." 

Ibid., V, 167 (Hempstead, Mar. 6, 1757): "till they are 14 years old and then 
put to trades." 

Ibid., V, 175 (Goshen, Apr. 17, 1757): "My son James is to be put out to a 
trade when he is 14." 



in Colonial New England and New York 101 

boy "is to be put to learn a trade when he is 15," 12 or 
sixteen years of age. 13 Sometimes the children "are to be 
put to trades when of suitable age," 14 or "when they are 
fit for the same." 15 The customary age at which children 
of this class were apprenticed seems to have been about 
fourteen. 

"Until such time as they are fit to be put to trades/' 16 
the children of parents who left adequate estate were to 
"be brought up in general with schooling sufficient for 
them." 17 The typical provision for this preliminary educa- 
tion is contained in a Flushing will dated Nov. 30, 1759, 
which directed that "My children are to be put at school 

Ibid., V, 384 (Westchester, Mar. 24, 1760): "My executors are to sell all the 
rest of my movable estate, all debts to be paid, and the remainder used to main- 
tain my other children, viz., Thomas, James, Frederick, and Augustine, until 
they are 14, at which age they are to be bound out to trades until of age. . . . My 
reputed daughter Elizabeth . . . they are to maintain her till she is 14 years old, 
and then bind her till she is of age." 

Ibid., VI, 241 (East Chester, Apr. 7, 1763): "My sons are to be put to trades 
at the age of fourteen." 

Ibid., VI, 426 (Southold, May 30, 1765): "when they are 14 years old." 

12 Ibid., II, 312 (Brookhaven, June 30, 17 18). 

Ibid., 124 (Brookhaven, Mar. 23, 1746): "my son is to be put out to learn a 
trade when he is 15 years of age." 

Ibid., IV, 384 (Huntington, Mar. 27, 1750): "My son Edmond, when he is 15 
years of age, is to be put to a trade." 

13 Ibid., VI, 289 (Hempstead, June 8, 1763) : "And they shall allow to my grand- 
son John Charlock, sufficient meat, drink, lodging, and apparell until he is 16, 
and then put him to a good trade." 

14 Ibid., IV, 443 (Flushing, Mar. 29, 1752). 

Ibid., VI, 19 (Richmond County, Nov. 2, 1760): "when of suitable age." 

Ibid., IV, 419 (N. Y. City, Aug. 27, 1752): "at a proper season to put them to 
learn a trade." 

Ibid., VI, 130 (Fordham, May 6, 1761). 

Ibid., VI, 311 (Flushing, Jan. 15, 1764): "My sons John and Thomas are to 
be put to good trades when of sufficient age." 

lh Ibid., Ill, 48 (Brookland, Jan. 18, 1731). 

Ibid., Ill, 286 (Goshen, Feb. 9, 1739): "at a fit time to bind him out as an ap- 
prentice to a Smith." 

Ibid., IV, 334 (North Castle, Westchester Co., Feb. 25, 1751). 

Ibid., VI, 394 (N. Y. City, Jan. 26, 1765): "to be put out when they are fit." 

16 Ibid., IV, 334 (Westchester, Feb. 25, 1751). 

17 Ibid., IV, 369 (Oyster Bay, June 28, 1751). 



102 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

till such times as they are fit to put to trades." 18 Some- 
times the duration of the "schooling" was fixed, as in the 
following will: "My two younger sons, Gilbert and Jacob, 
are to be kept at school till they are 14 years old and then 
put to trades." 19 The provisions were usually very definite 
in specifying the kind of education to be obtained at school, 
as: "reading and writing," 20 or "wreading, writing and ari th- 
ird tick." 21 In one instance the executors were instructed 
"to larn him to write and sifer so as to keep a common 
tradesmans book," 22 in another, the boy was to be taught 
"reading and in Arithmatick so far as is needful to keep a 
book of Accounts." 23 It may not be inappropriate at this 

18 Abstracts of Wills, V, 363. 

Ibid., Ill, 2 (Kingston, May 9, 1730). 

Ibid., Ill, 212 (Albany, July, 20, 1736). 

Ibid., IV, 198 (Hunting Grove, Ulster Co., May 29, 1742). 

Ibid., IV, 76 (Hempstead, Apr. 22, 1746): "My son John is to go to school till 
he has Good Learning and then to be put to learn a trade." 

Ibid., IV, 193 (Newburgh, Feb. 25, 1747): "Schooling my children till they are 
fit to put to trades." 

Ibid., V, 147 (Oyster Bay, Feb. 16, 1755). 

Ibid., VI, 19 (Richmond County, Nov. 2, 1760). 

Ibid., VI, 251 (Hempstead, Feb. 11, 1763). 

19 Ibid., V, 167 (Hempstead, Mar. 6, 1557). 

20 Ibid., I, 342 (N. Y. City, Aug. 3, 1702). 

Ibid., 1, 143 (N. Y. City, Mar. 12, 1676): "the children are to be caused to learn 
to read and write, and a trade." 

Ibid., I, 121 (N. Y. City, June 16, 1680). Girl: "reading and writing, and a 
trade." 

Ibid., II, 441 (N. Y. City, Feb. 23, 1685): "to read and write, and a trade." 

Ibid., 1, 236 (N. Y. City, July 24, 1686) : " to read and write, and an art or trade." 

Ibid., I, 209 (N. Y. City, May 15, 1691): "to read and write, and afterwards a 
trade." 

Ibid., I, 257 (N. Y. City, Apr. 29, 1695): "to read and write, and putting them 
to trades." 

Ibid., II, 67 (Albany, June 26, 1710): "to read and write and some lawful 
trade." 

21 Ibid., VI, 51 (Rochester, Feb. 9, 1759). 

Ibid., I, 133 (Albany, Aug. 6, 1683): "reading, writing, and Arithmetic, and 
. . . trade." 

Ibid., V, 320 (Dec. 18, 1757): "at School to larn to read, write, and Syfer." 

22 Ibid., VI, 262 (Southold, July n, 1763). 

23 Ibid., V, 328 (Brookhaven, May 4, 1759). 



in Colonial New England and New York 103 

point to quote from another will which throws additional 
light on the content of arithmetic, or "cyphering," in the 
colonial period. The will of John Little of Stonefield, Ulster 
County, dated May 13, 1752, provides as follows: 

My executors are to keep my grand son, John McGarrach, at school 
till he learns to read and write English and the five common rules of Arith- 
matick and then bind him to a house carpenter or any other good trade. 24 

In some cases wealthier parents provided for a more ex- 
tended education as a preliminary to learning a trade, such 
as is indicated in the following will: 

My friend George Home is to be the guardian of my said son, and at 
the age of five years he is to be sent to Great Britain, with a sufficiency 
to put him to some good school or Academy to be taught English and 
Latin and accounts till he is fourteen years of age and then bound appren- 
tice to some good trade. 25 

Very probably it was a more or less common practice for 
the wealthy to send their children to academies in England. 

24 Ibid., V, 273. 25 Ibid., V, 115 (N.Y. City, Apr. 26, 1755). 



CHAPTER IX 
CONCLUSION 

The evidence submitted in the preceding chapters in- 
dicates that the essential characteristics of the English 
practice of apprenticeship were reproduced in colonial New 
England and New York. In the mother-country the prac- 
tice dated from the late thirteenth, and early fourteenth cen- 
turies; it appeared in the colonies with the earliest settlers. 
As soon as the colonists took under consideration the busi- 
ness of making laws for their new settlements, they turned 
their attention to the apprenticeship system. English custom 
and law obtained to regulate the practice, but the colonists 
saw in it new and broader possibilities of use. 

The problem of providing an elementary education for 
all children, and trade training for those not of independent 
estate was important and pressing; the law of 1642 states 
that there had been " great neglect in many parents and 
masters in training up their children in labor and learning." 
But the solution was not far to seek. The inhabitants of 
Massachusetts Bay saw in the apprenticeship system, already 
established, an effective instrument for compelling the edu- 
cation of all youth. In order to accomplish this purpose, 
however, it was necessary to enact new legislation. The 
Massachusetts Bay colonists had originated a brand-new idea; 
there was nothing in English law or custom that could serve 
as a determining precedent for this scheme. The outcome 
of their deliberation was the famous General Court Order of 
1642, which laid upon all parents and masters the obliga- 
tion to teach their children and apprentices "to read and 
understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of 
the country," and to give them training in employments 



in Colonial New England and New York 105 

which would be profitable to themselves and "to the Com- 
monwealth." To enforce this requirement the Selectmen 
were instructed to visit regularly all parents and masters 
within their districts, and ascertain whether the children 
were being educated in the prescribed requirements. Where 
they discovered cases of neglect, the Selectmen were ordered 
to take children from their parents, and apprentices from 
their masters, and bind them out to persons who would ob- 
serve the law. To insure the prompt and efficient perform- 
ance of their duty, the law provided that the Selectmen "shall 
be liable to be punished and fined for the neglect thereof." 

An elementary education limited to the requirements of 
the Act of 1642 could not long satisfy the needs of the grow- 
ing colony, and soon there appeared a fairly widespread 
demand for a more practical course. The records indicate 
that, in the absence of new legislation on the subject, mas- 
ters were meeting this demand themselves, by giving their 
apprentices instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
And it was not until 1703 that the colony recognised this 
need. In that year a Poor-Law was enacted which required 
that poor-apprentices be taught to read and write. Suc- 
cessive Poor-Laws enacted in the years 17 10, 1720, 1731, 
1 741, and 177 1 indicate the development of the elementary 
educational requirement until it was given its most compre- 
hensive statement — "males, reading, writing, and cyphering; 
females, reading and writing." While these laws were 
primarily intended to provide for the education of poor 
children, they applied to all children just as the Act of 1642 
did (See Act of July 3, 1735). 

As we have seen, from our examination of the records, the 
law was generally well observed. In the few instances where 
elementary education was neglected, the apprenticeship 
system operated automatically to remedy the delinquency. 
This apprenticeship Act constitutes the first compulsory edu- 
cation law in America, and it is worthy of note that it was 
not until two centuries later that the State of Massachusetts 
passed its first compulsory education law. 



106 Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Education 

The example of Massachusetts Bay was quickly followed 
by each of the remaining New England colonies. The Con- 
necticut Code of 1650, the New Haven Code of 1655, an d 
the New Plymouth General Court Order of 167 1 reproduced 
almost verbatim the significant requirements of the Act of 
1642. And the practice, as revealed by town records and 
indentures of apprenticeship, indicates that the new system 
operated fairly successfully. The colony of Rhode Island 
and Providence Plantations enacted no legislation com- 
parable to these Acts, but the practice of apprenticeship 
was adopted without colony or town action, and served the 
same purposes. 

The first provision made for education in the Province of 
New York was the extension of the educational requirements 
of the apprenticeship system. This was contained in the 
Duke of York's Laws of 1665, which " strictly required" the 
instruction of all children and apprentices "in matters of 
Religion and the Lawes of the Country . . . and in some 
honest and Lawful Calling." From the tenor of this law, 
and from the fact that the entire Code of 1665 had been 
" collected out of the several laws now in force in his 
Majesty's American colonies and plantations," it is evident 
that its essential features were borrowed from the New 
England laws. Each Act emphasized the principle that all 
children must be brought up in learning and labor. In ad- 
dition, the New England laws specifically required that all 
children and apprentices be taught to read. The New York 
law was clearly a compulsory education law, but, unlike the 
New England codes, it did not refer to the apprenticeship 
system as the means of enforcement. That this was in- 
tended, however, is borne out by the practice as revealed 
by indentures and other records. 

In the colonies considered apprentices were sent to schools 
where masters were incapable of giving the required in- 
struction. The masters paid the tuition-charges, and, in 
Massachusetts, those who could not afford to pay the neces- 
sary fees were aided by the town. In the New England 



in Colonial New England and New York 107 

colonies these schools were day-schools, while in New York 
the records refer only to evening-schools. It is probable 
that the evening-schools were opened especially for ap- 
prentices, who were not free to attend in the day-time. 
These schools were not free, and the tuition-fees were paid 
by the masters. The indentures of apprenticeship reveal 
the fact that there was an evening school in the Royal 
Colony of New York as early as 1690, and that by 1705 
several had been opened. Like the New England day-schools 
the evening-schools of New York offered instruction in read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic — the customary elementary 
curriculum. 

It is interesting to note that the legislative provisions for 
the kind of education to be given to apprentices, in both the 
New England and New York colonies, is contained in Poor- 
Laws. The indentures and other records indicate that they 
applied to voluntary industrial-apprentices as well as to 
poor-apprentices. There was no separate legislation con- 
cerning the education of the former class. 

In New England and New York the first laws concerning 
education, and the first compulsory education laws were con- 
tained in apprenticeship enactments. As we have seen, the 
apprenticeship system took care of the entire problem of 
public elementary education during the colonial period. By 
the enactment of these laws the scope of apprenticeship was 
broadened to such an extent that it became a new, and 
peculiarly American institution. 



APPENDIX A 

Transcript of an Indenture Preserved at Norwich, 
Dated June io, 1291 

From Hudson and Tingey, The Records of the City of Norwich, 

Vol. I, 245 

Mem. quod hec est conuencio facta inter Johannem filium Gerardi le 
Specer de Norwyco ex parte una et Hubertum filium Willelmi di Tiben- 
ham de Gernemutha ex parte altera videlicet quod predictus Hubertus 
stabit in seruicio predicti Johannis continue a festo Pentecoste anno 
regni regis Edwardi filii Henrici regis decimo nono usque ad terminum 
sex annorum proxime subsequentium plenarie completorum, eidem 
Johanni in omnibus prout decet humilite fideliter competenter pro 
posse suo interim pleseruiendo. Et predictus Hubertus erit apprenti- 
ces dicti Johannis per totum dictum tempus. Et precepta eius dili- 
genter faciet per totum et secreta sua que fuerint concelanda firmiter 
concelabit et a seruicio dicti Johannis in terminum nullo modo recedet 
nisi ab ipso Johanne prius jure et racione fuerit licenciatus. Et non 
licebit dicto Johanni infra dictum terminum dictum Hubertum amouere 
de seruicio suo nisi ex racionabili et probabili causa. Et predictus Hu- 
bertus per totum dictum tempus fideliter et honorifice custodiet et ap- 
probabit bona et catalla Johannis in cunctis locis quando ipsi Huberto 
fuerint commendata et inde fideliter dicto Johanni respondebit. Et 
ilia bona nullis dabit nee accomodabit sim licencia et speciali mandatu 
domini sui. Et predictus Hubertus infra dictum tempus nullo modo 
dampnum dicto Johanni faciet et maliciose ad valenciam vj denariorum 
vel amplius neque dampnum aut pudorem dicto Johanni in terminum in 
aliquo videbit imminere quin allud impediat pro posse suo vel ipsum 
Johannem inde premuniat nee aliquam contencionem infra dictum ter- 
minum facere aut mouere inter vicinos et mercatores ex quo dictus Jo- 
hannes aliquo modo poterit agrauari. Et si dictus Hubertus in aliquo 
contra premisse euenerit ipse Hubertus et eius fideiussores subscripti 
secundum consideracionem mercatorem et aliorem virorum fide dig- 
norum inde dicto Johanni respondebunt et satisfacient competenter. 
Et si dictus Johannes decesserit infra dictum tempus dictus Hubertus 
seruiet assignato idoneo dicto Johannis cuicunque ipsum legauerit qui 
sit eiusdem officii usque in finem dicti termini plenarie in omnibus 



no Appendix A 

sicuti dicto Johanni fecerit si superstes fuisset. Et dictus Johannes per 
totum tempus docebit dictum Hubertum officium suum quo utitur 
emendi vendendi et omnia alia faciendi que ad illud officium suum per- 
tinent diligenter competente pro posse suo secundum ipsius Huberti 
ingenii capacitatem. Et idem Johannes vel eius assignatus per totum 
dictum tempus inueniet dicto Huberto cibos et potum vestimenta linea 
et calciamenta et unam supertunicam vel tunicam singulis annis infra 
iij ultimos annos dicti termini prout decet talem erudientum habere. 
Et si predictus Hubertus quocunque anno dicti termini moriatur vel si 
predictus Hubertus cum dicto Johanne nullo modo stare poterit propter 
duritiam vel asperitatem ipsius Johannis vel eius assignati tunc dictus 
Johannes vel eius assignatus restituet dicto Huberto vel eius fideiussori- 
bus quolibet anno qui retro fuerit dicti termini dimidiam maream ar- 
genti. Pro qua quidem erudicione et pro predicta sustentacione dicto 
Huberto per predictum tempus inuenienda dictus Hubertus dedit dicto 
Johanni xl solidos sterlingorum pre manibus ad omnia premissa ex ul- 
traque parte obseruanda. Predictus Johannes et Hubertus inuen- 
erunt alternatim fideiussores. (Fideiussores) dicti Huberti sunt Adam 
de Sahem, Rogerus de Morle. Et fideiussores dicti Johannis sunt 
Willelmus f rater eius, Radulphus Boleman. In cuius rei testimonium 
huic scripto in modo Cyrographi, confecto sigilla partium et fideiussorum 
alternatim sunt appensa. Testibus Willelmo de Scothowe, Willelmo 
de Kyrkeby, Gilberto de Erlham, Rogero de Apeton et aliis." 



Indenture of Apprenticeship, 1396 

From the Archaeological Journal, London, 18/2, Vol. XXIX, 184. 

Haec Indentura testatur quod ita convenit inter Johannem Hyndlee 
de Norhampton, Brasyer, ex parte une, et Thomam Edward, filium 
Gilberti Edward de Wyndesore, ex parte altera, quod praedictus Thomas 
Edward semetipsum fecit et posuit apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, 
ad deserviendum eidem Johanni Hyndlee et assignatis suis bene et fideli- 
ter more apprenticii a festo omnium sanctorum proxime futuro post 
datam presentium usque ad finem septem annorum proxime extunc 
sequentium et plenarie completorum, ad artem vocatam brasyer's 
craft, qua dictus Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. 
Infra quern quidem terminum dictorum septem annorum praefatus 
Thomas Edward consilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui celanda 
celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni magistro suo nullo modo faciet 
nee fieri videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum 
statim inde premuniet. A servicio suo praedicto seipsum illicito non 
absentabit. Bona et catalla dicti Johannis magistri sui absque ejus 
licencia nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum, talos, aleas, et joca 



Appendix A in 

similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri sui praedicti. Forni- 
cationem nee adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia dicti 
Johannis magistri sui nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, 
absque licencia magistri sui praedicti. Praecepta et mandata licita 
et racionabilia dicti Johannis magistri sui ubique pro fideli posse ipsius 
Thomae, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem mandatis libenter obediet, 
durante toto termino suo praenotato. Et, si praedictus Thomas de 
aliqua convencione sua vel articulo praescrito defecerit, tunc idem 
Thomas juxta modum et quantitatem delicti sui praefato Johanni magis- 
tro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum apprenticiatus sui prae- 
dicti duplicabit, iterando servicium suum praefixum. Et praefatus 
Johannes Hyndlee at assignati sui dictum Thomam apprenticium suum 
in arte praedicta melioro modo quo idem Johannes sciverit ac poterit 
tractabunt, docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient suffi- 
cienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Praeterea dictus Jo- 
hannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Thomam in arte 
vocata Peuterer's craft adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra con- 
vencionem suam praemissam. Et idem Johannes nullam (a hole in the 
deed) artium praedictarum a dicto Thoma apprenticio suo concelabit 
durante termino praenotato. Invenient insuper idem Johannes et 
assignati sui dicto Thomae omnia sibi necessaria, videlicet vistum suum, 
et vestitum, lineum, lectum, hospicium, caicementa et caetera sibi com- 
petencia annuatim sumcienter, prout aetas et status ipsius Thomae 
exigerint durante termino suo praefixo. In cujus rei testimonium partes 
praedictae hiis Indenturis sigilla sua alternatim apposuerunt. Data 
apud Norhampton, die Sabbati proxima post festum sancti Lucae apos- 
toli et evangelistae, anno regni regis Ricardi secundi post conquestum 
decimo nono. Hiis testibus, Henrico Caysho, tunc majore villae Nor- 
hampton, Willielmo Wale et Johanne Wodeward, tunc ibidem ballivis. 
Ricardo Gosselyn, Johanne Esex Smyth, et aliis. (a.d. 1396) 

Indenture of Apprenticeship from the Mercer's Company's 

Records, a.d. 1414 

From Hibbert, The Influence and Development of English Guilds, 52. 

Haec Indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northamp- 
ton, Brayser, et Gulielmum nlium Thomae Spragge de Salopia, quod 
predictus Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni 
Hyndlee, usque ad finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam brasyer's 
craft, quadictus Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. 
Infra quern quidem terminum praefatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johan- 
nis Hyndlee magistri sui celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni 
nullo modo faciet nee fieri videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum 



ii2 Appendix A 

magistrum suum statim inde premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite 
non absentabit. Bona et catalla dicti Johannis absque ejus licentia 
nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum, talos, aleas, et joca similia 
non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri sui. Fornicationem nee 
adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia dicti Johannis nullo 
modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia magistri sui. 
Praecepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui ubique pro fideli 
posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem mandatis libenter 
obediet. Et si praedictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione sua vel 
articulo praescripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et 
quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum 
apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et praefatus Johannes et assignati sui 
apprenticium suum in arte praedicta melioro modo quo idem Johannes 
sciverit ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum in- 
formari facient sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Prae- 
terea dictus Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum 
Gulielmum in arte vocata Peuterer's Craft adeo bene sicut sciverit seu 
poterit ultra convencionem suam praemissam. Et idem Johannes 
nullam partem artium praedictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. 
Invenient insuper Johannes et assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi 
necessaria, viz. victum suum et vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, 
hospicium, calcaementa et caetera sibi competencia annuatim suffi- 
cienter, prout aetas et status ipsius Gulielmi exigerint. In cujus rei 
testimonium etc. 1414. 

Transcript or an Indenture Preserved at Corsham, Wilts, 

dated Jan. 16, 1708 

From Dunlop, English Apprenticeship and Child Labour, 352. 

This Indenture made the sixteenth day of January in the seaventh 
yeare of the Reigne of our Sovraigne Lady Anne of Greate Brittain 
nrance and Ireland Queene Defender of the ffaith ex Anno qo Dom 1708 
Betweene William Selman of the pish of Corsham in the County of 
Wiltes Husbandman and Richard Selman son of the sd William Selman 
of the one pte and Thomas Stokes holder of the pish of Corsham afore- 
said Broadweaver of the other pte Witnesseth that the said Richard 
Selman of his owne voluntarie will and with the consent of his sd ffather 
William Selman Hath put himselfe an Apprentice unto the said Thomas 
Stokes and with him hath covenanted to dwell as his Appntice from the 
day of the date hereof untill the full end and terme of Seaven Yeares 
fully to be Compleate and ended during all which tyme the said Richard 
Selman shall well and faithfully serve him the said Thomas Stokes his 
master his secrets lawfully to be kept shall keep his Commandmts law- 



Appendix A 113 

full and honest shall doe and execute hurt unto his said Master hee shall 
not doe nor consent to be done Tavernes or Alehouses hee shall not haunt 
Dice Cardes or any other unlawful games hee shall not use ffornication 
with any women hee shall not committ during such tyme as he shall 
stay in his Masters service Matrymony with any woman hee shall not 
Contract or espouse himselfe during the said Terme of Seaven yeares 
The goods of his said Master inordinately hee shall not wast nor to any 
man lend without his Masters Lycence from his Masters house or busi- 
ness hee shall not absent himselfe or plong himselfe by Night or by day 
without his Masters leave, but as a true and faithfull servant shall hon- 
estly behave himselfe towards his sd Master and all his both in words 
and deedes And the said Thomas Stokes doth for himselfe his Executors 
and Administrators promise and Covenant to and with the sd William 
Selman and Richard Selman his Appntice to teach or cause the said 
Richard Selman to be taught and instructed in the trade Art science or 
occupation of a Broadweaver after the best manner that he can or may 
with moderate Correction finding and allowing unto his sd Servant 
meate drinke Apparrell Washing Lodging and all other things whatso- 
ever fitting for an appntice of that trade during the said term of Seaven 
yeares And to give unto his sd Appntice at the end of the sd terme dou- 
ble Apparell (to witt) one suite for holy dayes and one for worken dayes. 
In witness whereof the said pties to the psent Indentures interchangeably 
have sett their hands and seales the day and yeare first above written 
Sealed and Delivered in the psence of Thomas Stokes. 



APPENDIX B 

Presentment oe the Town oe Topsfield, Mass., for 
violating the act of 1 64 2 

From Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, IV, 212. 

Warrant to the constable of Topsfield, dated Mar. 2, 1668: 
"Whereas the law published by the Honered Generall Court lib. 1, pag 
76, doe require all Townes from time to time to dispose of all single per- 
sons and inmates within their Towns to service or otherwise and in pag. 
16, tit. children & youth, It is required of the selectmen that they see 
that all youth under family Government be taught to read perfectly the 
english tongue, have knowledge in the capital laws, and be taught some 
orthodox catechism, and that they be brought up to some honest em- 
ployment, profitable to themselves and to the commonwealth, and in 
case of neglect, on the part of famaly Governours, after admonition 
given them, the sayd selectmen are required, with the helpe of two mag- 
istrates, or next court of that shire, to take such children or apprentices 
from them, and place them forth with such as will looke more straitly 
to them. The neglect wherof, as by sad experience from court to court 
abundantly appears, doth occasion much sin and prophanes to increase 
among us, to the dishonor of God, and the ensueing of many children 
and servants, by the dissolute lives and practices of such as doe live 
from under family Government and is a great discouragement to most 
family governours, who consciently indeavour to bring up their youth 
in all christian nurture, as the laws of God and this commonwealth 
doth require;" said constable was ordered to acquaint the selectmen of 
the town that "the court doth expect and will require that the sayd 
laws be accordingly attended, the prevalency of the former neglect not- 
withstanding, and you are also required to take a list of the names of 
those young persons within the bounds of your Town, and all adjacent 
farmes, though out of all Towne bounds, who do live from under family 
government viz. doe not serve their parents or masters, as children ap- 
prentices, hired servants, or journeymen ought to do, and usually did in 
our native country, being subject to there commands & discipline and 
the same you are to returne to the next court to be held at Ipswich the 
30 day of this month, etc.; signed by Robert Lord, cleric; and served 
by Thomas Dorman, constable of Tospfield, who returned that he had 
made the selectmen acquainted with Mathew Hooker, who was all that 
he found in the town." 



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